UN General Assembly highlights transformative power of sport to achieve peace

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Thursday recognized the power of sport to achieve peace, expand sustainable development and inspire young people around the planet with the adoption of a consensus resolution.

Adopting the text, titled "Sport as an enabler for sustainable development," delegates laid out the ways in which sport can be used to help young people improve their lives while generating cooperation among nations.

UN General Assembly President, Csaba Korosi, said the international community must include sports and athletes in its work to carry out the changes that transform the world, pointing out that "sports bring people together in peaceful conditions and can help combat some of the greater dangers facing humankind."

Noting that the World Cup is underway, he said both male and female athletes are role models for millions of young people.

It is more promising if nations compete in the fields of sport rather than on battlefields, he said.

"The former is nobler, and the latter leaves death and devastation behind," he said, encouraging all member states to preserve the "unifying spirit of sports" and the Olympic Movement.

In introducing the resolution, Omar Hilale, Morocco's permanent representative to the United Nations, pointed to sport's potential as "a catalyst for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals."

Hilale noted the text refers to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs' guidance notes on fighting climate change through sport.

The resolution also points out that the sports sector can reduce its own carbon footprint by adopting sustainability standards and raising awareness, he added.

Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed Al Thani, permanent representative of Qatar to the United Nations, commended the opening speech at the 2022 FIFA World Cup of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as a most eloquent response to the unfair, selective, racist, condescending and politicized campaigns which targeted Qatar's organization of the event.

Despite such campaigns, Qatar will continue to remain true to national and Arab values, as well as international standards that prevent the politicization of all discrimination introduced in sports, she said.

The country will continue to focus on humanity by building strategic partnerships and expanding international cooperation mechanisms to achieve coexistence and spread a culture of tolerance and peace, she added, as she spotlighted the launch of a campaign on the global goals on the sidelines of the World Cup.

Encouraged by the Assembly's unity on the resolution, the permanent observer of the International Olympic Committee to the United Nations, Luis Alberto Moreno, said stronger collaboration between the Olympic community and the United Nations system can advance the global goals "by using sport in such areas as peace, health, education, gender equality and climate action."

In a polarized world, there are few occasions when humankind can set aside its differences and come together in peace, he said, adding that the Olympic spirit is the most important symbol of peace in today's world.

He welcomed that the resolution specifically highlights that international sporting events should be organized "in a spirit of peace and without discrimination of any kind."