Remarks by Mr. Miguel Moratinos
the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)
at the High-Level Roundtable on the Protection of Major Sporting Events
and the Use of Sports’ Values for the Prevention of Violent Extremism
Doha, Qatar – 27 March 2022
Your Excellency, Mr. Sultan bin Saad El Muraikhi, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Qatar,
Your Excellency, Under Secretary General Vladimir Voronkov, Office of Counter Terrorism ,
Distinguished partners and guests,
I wish to start by saying that I am truly happy that we finally meet in person , as partners in this amazing program that we launched together almost 2 years together.. and I congratulate you, my friend USG Vladimir Voronkov, and your team for organizing this round table with our hosts , The Government of Qatar.
UNAOC is certainly very proud of its partnership with UNOCT, UNICRI, ICSS and other civil society organizations in this important program. I also take the opportunity to applaud the governments of the State of Qatar, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Korea for their support to the program and for placing sport in the forefront of their agendas.
I hope that what we have achieved so far in this program brought an added value to the security governance component of the program through activities and initiatives that underpins the role of sport in facilitating the integration of vulnerable communities and as such it helps in the prevention of violent extremism conducive to terrorism.
In an increasingly multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious societies , Sport serves as a vector to promote diversity , inclusion, mutual respect and nurturing a culture of peace among people and nations. But most of all, sport teaches us humility.
These values are rooted in the mission of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.
They are humanistic principles that should guide our actions on day to day basis , not just as one -time- feel – good action.
Instilling such values especially in youth at an early age will contribute to nurturing a sense of belonging and inclusion that helps in cementing social cohesion, which are essential elements in the fight against violent extremism conducive to terrorism.
At UNAOC, we have recognized the power of sport, so I included it as one of the priorities in UNAOC Action Plan 2019-2023.
Since then, we have initiated new partnerships with renown soccer clubs and sport entities including UNAOC has also initiated new partnerships with renowned soccer clubs and sports entities such Fundación Club Atlético de Madrid, La Liga, Global Association of Sports Federations (GAISF), the International Jump Rope Union, World Dodgeball Association and International Judo Federation, and Beach Soccer Foundation spearheading the UNAOC’s “One Humanity Campaign”. I am pleased that our advisor for sports events is with us today Mr. Joan Cusco, who brings with him more than 25 years of experience in organizing and promoting sports events, thanks to his broad network within the sport community.
Through this program , UNAOC in partnership with partnership with UNOCT, UNICRI, and ICSS, developed a handbook on “PREVENTING VIOLENT EXTREMISM THROUGH MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS – A HANDBOOK FOR ORGANIZERS”, as part of the multi-year Global Programme on Security of Major Sporting Events, and Promotion of Sport and Its Values as a Tool to Prevent Violent Extremism.
The handbook aims to support organizers of Major Sporting Events (MSE) including sports governing bodies, organizing committees and governments at all levels, national , regional and local actors to take joint measures aimed at Preventing Violent Extremism by leveraging the positive values of sport. Since Major Sporting Events serve as a platform for disseminating messages of mutual respect and tolerance, fostering social inclusion, and reducing socioeconomic inequalities, MSEs are considered essential elements in the sports culture across the globe that involve various public and private actors and could reach a broad spectrum of people from diverse societies, regions, religions, and cultures.
The handbook also explores how to promote, prevent and react to PVE during and after a major sport event. A life cycle scheme will help understand when to take action in the lifecycle of an MSE ranging from the vision to the legacy.
My office has shared the draft of the handbook with the Global Compact PCVE Working Group for their input and comments and we hope that the final version will be ready soon.
In the same vein, it is important to meaningfully engage young people in the design and implementation of sport-based PVE initiatives and policies. Many of those programmes and policies target youth as beneficiaries or vulnerable populations, and the implementation directly affects them. If we don’t include youth’s voices, for example in the design and implementation of the National Action Plans (NAP) to prevent violent extremism, our efforts become less impactful, nearly irrelevant. Without listening to their voices and including their perspectives, we will never achieve the aspired level of sustainable peace.
We need to continue raising awareness among policymakers on the power of young people in peacebuilding and P/CVE through programs like this one.
Therefore, UNAOC in collaboration with the partners, plans to organize a MENA Youth Forum in Rabat, Morocco from the 13th until the 16th of June 2022. We considered organizing the youth forum few months ago but the travel restrictions imposed at the time did not allow such an in person event.
The Forum will build on the power of sport to amplify youth participation in national and regional PVE strategies and re-affirm the importance role youth bring to the table in fostering sustainable peace and development in the MENA Region.
The choice of the venue was not coincidental, since Morocco hosts the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (2-23 July 2022), which provides a great opportunity to discuss how to leverage such major sporting events to integrate sport and its values as a tool to break barriers between cultures and religions and prevent violent extremism, and how to foster inclusion and parity particularly gender parity.
We look forward to seeing you all in June 2022 in Morocco.
I wish to conclude by recalling The UN General Assembly Resolution A/73/24 which reminds us that sports, the arts and physical activity have the power to change perceptions, prejudices and behaviours, as well as to inspire people, break down racial and political barriers, combat discrimination and defuse conflict.
As such, the power of sport should be harnessed to its fullest and cannot and should not be politicized.
Thank you.