On the Scene -- Peace and Sport Unveils Ambitious Plans for 2009

(ATR) Organizers of the Peace and Sport initiative plan to exploit major international sports events in the coming years. Events such as the Tour de France grand start in Monaco next July will be used to raise the profile of the fledgling organization and its objectives. Joel Bouzou, president of Peace and Sport, plans to use major sports events as a platform to grow the organization’s international profile (ATR)

Joel Bouzou, president of the Monaco-based organization, announced the plan at the end of the second International Peace and Sport Forum in the principality Friday.

He said the organization, created under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco, needs to be “more visible” in 2009. “The sports calendar will be used by Peace and Sport to communicate our activities,” said Bouzou, who is also general secretary of the Modern Pentathlon International Union.

Bouzou says he hopes to use the start of the 2009 Tour de France in Monaco, the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games and upcoming world championships staged by international sports federations as a platform to spread the organization’s message that sport can be a vehicle for peace.

More than 300 delegates drawn from governments, the IOC, national Olympic committees, IFs and non-governmental organizations attended the two-day conference in Monaco.

In conclusions to the event, Bouzou confirms a third forum will be held next year. He also raised the prospect of more regular gatherings on a regional and continental basis.

“Peace and Sport is a very serious responsibility and a huge challenge. The will, the energy belong to all of us to make a difference in favor of sustainable peace,” he told delegates.

The final day of the conference consisted of sessions on ‘The challenges of sustainability’ and ‘Sport, partnerships and corporate social responsibility’.

Dave Miley, the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) executive director of tennis development, was among participants speaking about how sport can pave the way to peace in developed and developing countries. He talked about the ITF’s Play and Stay campaign, which aims to improve the way starter players are introduced to the game around the world.

He says the ITF is working closely with Olympic Solidarity, which offers assistance AS Monaco FC President Jerome De Bontin, players, and coach, along with H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, center, unveil the club’s new shirt. (Peace and Sport)to NOCs on such programs, to expand the scheme worldwide.

According to the ITF, more than $63 million was invested in tennis development activities in 150 countries worldwide from 1986 to 2007 under the ITF’s own development program. During 2007, more than 17,000 rackets, nearly 135,000 balls, as well as nets and strings were distributed to more than 100 national associations worldwide as part of its equipment distribution initiative.

At the inaugural Peace and Sport Awards Thursday night, several global sporting projects were honored for successfully creating links between divided or opposed communities.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) picked up an award for the best peace project: ‘Judo for Peace’. IJF president Marius Vizer and Jan Erick Scholtz, president of the Judo for Peace commission, received the award from Bouzou and Christine Dominguez, Director of the General Association of International Sports Federations.

The ‘Judo for Peace’ initiative teaches the practice and values of judo to disadvantaged young people or those weakened by conflict, poverty and insecurity.

The prize for sports event of the year went to Rally Ireland. In November 2007, Rally Ireland enabled a bridge to be built between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The joint organizing committee heightened cooperation between the two regions, uniting hundreds of volunteers and reinforcing social cohesion on both sides of the border.

Serge Betsen, the former French rugby international, received an award for NGO of the year: ‘Les Enfants de Biemassy’. Conceived as a project to popularize rugby among disadvantaged youth in Cameroon, the initiative uses the sport as a vector for social integration, personal fulfilment and access to education and training for thousands of children in poor districts.

The award-winners were chosen by a commission of Peace and Sport members.

Meanwhile, Peace and Sport also announced at the conference that French football team AS Monaco had become an exceptional ambassador for the organization; the club’s new shirt bears its logo.

With reporting from Mark Bisson in Monaco.

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