United Nations Recognizes the Importance of Sport for Sustainable Development (December 2018)

“SPORT AS AN ENABLER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”: THIS IS THE TITLE OF THE RESOLUTION ADOPTED TODAY BY THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN NEW YORK. IT ENCOURAGES MEMBER STATES AND RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS TO EMPHASISE AND ADVANCE THE USE OF SPORT AS A VEHICLE TO FOSTER SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ACKNOWLEDGING THE ROLE PLAYED BY SPORT AND THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT.
 The Resolution was adopted on the occasion of the presentation of the biennial report of the UN Secretary General on sport for development and peace. The report calls upon Member States to further the work on sport for development and peace at all levels, promote policy coherence, and foster existing national policies and government-supported programmes that leverage sport as a tool for social or economic development, and it recognises the important role played by the IOC and sports organisations in this field.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in 2015, explicitly stressed the role of sport in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Now, with this Resolution, the UN is reiterating its call to Member States to leverage sport to achieve the SDGs, working in collaboration with all the interested stakeholders, including the sports community, civil society, international organisations and business companies.
The Resolution points out the “invaluable contribution of the Olympic and Paralympic movements in establishing sport as a unique means for the promotion of peace and development, in particular through the ideal of the Olympic Truce, acknowledging the opportunities provided by past Olympic and Paralympic Games”.
It affirms the contribution of sport in promoting tolerance and respect and empowering women and young people, individuals and communities. The document also places a spotlight on the impact sport has on health, education, social inclusion and the fight against corruption, encouraging governments’ efforts to focus on these topics.
Just as importantly, the Resolution again supports “the independence and autonomy of sport as well as the mission of the International Olympic Committee in leading the Olympic Movement and of the International Paralympic Committee in leading the Paralympic Movement” in an effort to guarantee its universality.
Read the full Resolution here.
“We welcome the Resolution approved today by the United Nations, as it reaffirms the universality of sport and its unifying power to foster peace, education, gender equality and sustainable development at large,”  IOC President Thomas Bach commented. “With its global reach, and its impact on communities and in particular on young people, sport can bring inclusion and empower people all over the world. Thanks to the UN, we now have a strong tool that encourages states and sports organisations to work together and develop concrete best practices. We want the Olympic Movement to be a driving force for a sustainable future for everyone.”
The universality of sport means that the IOC and the Olympic Movement have a special responsibility to promote a sustainable future for our world. This is why sustainability is one of the three pillars of Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. The IOC has recently published its first Sustainability Report, which reports the progress made on the 18 objectives to be achieved by 2020 across all of the IOC’s spheres of responsibility: as the leader of the Olympic Movement, as the owner of the Olympic Games and as an organisation.