United Nations, Olympism & International Understanding in Sports

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United Nations, Olympism & International Understanding in Sports By Neeraj Kumar Mehra Olympism Researcher & Manish Gupta Abstract Sport is used in an extremely wide range of situations – whether as an integrated tool in short-term emergency humanitarian aid activities, or in long-term development cooperation projects, on a local, regional or global scale. Sport plays a significant role as a promoter of social integration and economic development in different geographical, cultural and political contexts. Sport is a powerful tool to strengthen social ties and networks, and to promote ideals of peace, fraternity, solidarity, nonviolence, tolerance and justice. From a development perspective, the focus is always on mass sport and not elite sport. Sport is used to reach out to those most in need including refugees, child soldiers, victims of conflict and natural catastrophes, the impoverished, persons with disabilities, victims of racism, stigmatization and discrimination, persons living with HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The right of access to and participation in sport and play has long been recognised in a number of international conventions. Key-Words: Individual Development, Promotion of Gender Equality, Economic Development, Frantastic Progress. United Nations and Sports Sport has historically played an important role in all societies, be it in the form of competitive, physical activity or play. But, one may wonder: what does a sport have to do with the United Nations? In fact, sport presents a neutral partnership for the United Nations (UN) system: sports and play are human rights that must be respected and enforced worldwide; sport has been increasingly recognized as used as low-cost and high-impact tool in humanitarian development and peace-building efforts, not only by the UN system but also by non-governmental

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