[Duraspace] Fwd: [IFLA-L] IFLA takes Lyon Declaration to the UN

[Hilton Gibson]

FYI.

*Hilton Gibson*
Ubuntu Linux Systems Administrator
JS Gericke Library
Room 1025C
Stellenbosch University
Private Bag X5036
Stellenbosch
7599
South Africa

Tel: +27 21 808 4100 | Cell: +27 84 646 4758

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: IFLA Webmaster <webmaster at ifla.org>
Date: 23 February 2015 at 12:59
Subject: [IFLA-L] IFLA takes Lyon Declaration to the UN
To: "ifla-l at infoserv.inist.fr" <ifla-l at infoserv.inist.fr>


 IFLA President-Elect Donna Scheeder and Governing Board member Loida
Garcia-Febo were in New York last week for the latest negotiating session
on the post-2015 UN development framework. IFLA is calling for a focus on
increased access to information in the new framework, and is working to
highlight the role that information intermediaries, such as libraries, can
play in helping achieve the new set of Sustainable Development Goals that
all UN Member States will commit to reaching from September 2015.

Negotiations in New York last week focused on the Declaration section of
the new Framework. Delegates called for an aspirational statement that made
sense to all. Throughout the week, in discussions with delegates and civil
society groups, IFLA argued that access to information is a common
principle, as well as a cross-cutting issue across all of the goals and
targets.

Our position
<http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/libraries-development/documents/libraries-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf>
is that the Declaration should clearly recognise that increased access to
information and knowledge, underpinned by universal literacy, is an
essential pillar of sustainable development.
IFLA's intervention

On Thursday, at a meeting between UN Major Groups and Member States, Donna
Scheeder introduced the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and
Development <http://www.lyondeclaration.org> which has now been signed by
over 500 organisations from across the library, development and ICT
sectors. Her intervention focused on the danger of information poverty.
Full text of the intervention

Thank you Mr. Chair for giving the floor to the International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions, or IFLA, the global Voice of
Libraries.

*“I’m Donna Scheeder, the President-Elect of IFLA, and I’m speaking on
behalf of more than 500 organisations and institutions who have signed The
Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development. The Lyon
Declaration calls upon UN Member States to recognize the importance of
increased access to information in supporting the post-2015 development
agenda. *

*I wanted to remind delegates that in moving forward we must pay attention
to a different kind of poverty that has not been mentioned much here -
information poverty. *

*Information and knowledge really are the foundation for making progress
towards sustainable development. Without access to information, people will
lack the means to take the crucial decisions needed to improve their lives.
*

*Increased access to information is a cross-cutting issue that will
contribute to the achievement of all goals - whether in health, education,
transparency and accountability: all goals will benefit from people being
able to know more about how to achieve them. *

*And we - libraries - can help you get there. There are over 320,000 public
libraries worldwide, and hundreds of thousands of school and research
libraries - in all of your countries. Librarians are skilled information
professionals who can be strong partners in increasing access to
information. And we can help people gain the information literacy skills
needed to improve their lives. *

*So when considering how we do this, let’s make sure we use the
institutions who can help open up the datasets, knowledge resources and
provide access to the ICTs people need to achieve sustainable development.
*

*We look forward to being partners in the data revolution and helping us
get to 2030 in great shape.” *
Next steps

By the end of the meeting an updated elements paper
<https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/6155Discussion%20Document%20for%20for%20Declaration%2019%20Feb.pdf>
for the Declaration was produced for delegates, who will now refine a final
version over the coming months. Meanwhile, IFLA will continue to engage at
the UN in negotiations. In March there will be a discussion of Goals and
Targets, and in April the focus turns to the Means of Implementation, or
how the goals will actually be achieved. Negotiations continue until July,
at which point a final framework will be produced for endorsement at the UN
Summit on Sustainable Development in September.

IFLA urges upon you to sign the Lyon Declaration
<http://www.lyondeclaration.org>, access our advocacy toolkit and contact
your government representatives about the importance of access to
information to development. We need your help to achieve our objectives!

View online: http://www.ifla.org/node/9427
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