n his 1952 novel “Invisible Man,” the late Ralph Ellison famously portrayed American blacks as silent, long-suffering and entirely unnoticed by the majority white population.

In 2016, there is a new – and global – invisible class: the 260 million boys and girls who are now denied access to basic education.

Today’s invisible victims are refugee children holed up in tents, shacks and hovels who will never enjoy a first day at school; they are the millions of nine to 12-year-olds condemned to child labor and the millions of young girls destined for child marriage and denied an education simply because of their gender.

Ensuring a better future for these children is the civil-rights struggle of our time.

Click here to read more from Commission Chair Gordon Brown on KhmerTimes.com.