The Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations and the Permanent Mission of the Principality of Monaco to the United Nations, in their capacity as Co-Chairs of the Group of Friends of Sport for Development and Peace, organized an event in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
Held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the event, themed "Leveling the Playing Field: Sport for Social Inclusion," was intended to mark the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2025.
Addressing the event, HE UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Li Junhua, underscored the unique capability of sport in bridging gaps and reinforcing integration, highlighting its role in beefing up job opportunities, combating discrimination, and building the abilities to adaptation, particularly in vulnerable communities.
HE Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Bahous, noted the critical role sport plays in empowering women, emphasizing that sport helps break conventional strictures that could prevent women's empowerment.
The second part of the event featured the participation of a host of athletes who have differently contributed to backing the efforts aimed at promoting the role of sport in creating a positive change in the world and communities, chief amongst them being Sheikha Asma Al-Thani, the Qatari mountaineer and partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); Jamal Hill, the American Paralympic swimmer and bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games; Justin Morrow, the American professional soccer player, social justice advocate, and Director of Partnerships and Sports Programming at the University of South California's Race and Equity Center; Veronica Shiffi, the American basketball player at San Diego State University; and Tegla Loroupe, the Kenyan former long-distance runner and sprinter, and global advocate for peace and women's rights.
Sheikha Asma Al-Thani shared her personal experience, emphasizing that sport has been a vehicle for self-expression, surmounting challenges, and inculcating the hope in women and girls in the region to have dreams and belief in their abilities. She stressed the importance of families' support for girls to engage in sporting activities, noting the remarkable surge in the number of female mountaineers in the State of Qatar and the Arab region, as a testament to the positive shift in societal norms.
In addition, Sheikha Asma Al-Thani talked about the role sport plays in serving global issues, shining a spotlight on the profound symbolism of holding the UNHCR's flag aloft during her career as a message of solidarity with marginalized and displaced communities. She commended the State of Qatar's role in deepening sport diplomacy, highlighting the humanitarian and cultural legacy of major tournaments like the Football World Cup.
The participants deliberated on the profound role sport plays in shaping their identities and expanding their social and humanitarian prospects, as the topics ranged from mental health, social justice, awareness about climate and water, to emerging generation empowerment. They underscored the importance of international cooperation to capitalize on the transformative power of sport in building more inclusive societies, particularly for the benefit of youth, women, and marginalized groups, calling for sport to be positioned as a central pillar within the agenda of the Second World Summit for Social Development, scheduled to be convened in Doha in November 2025.