Peace and Sport

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Peace and Sport (also known as "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport") is a neutral and independent organization based in the Principality of Monaco and under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco.^[1]

After retiring from professional football in late 2018, Ivorian footballer Didier Drogba became the Vice President of the organization.^[2]

The current winner of Peace and Sport's Champions for Peace Award is Argentine footballer Lionel Messi.^[3]

Since its creation in 2007,^[4] Peace and Sport has developed 12 field programs in 13 countries. The organization works with local project leaders (governments, NGOs, National Olympic Committees, and sports federations) in areas affected by extreme poverty, the consequences of conflicts and an absence of social cohesion. This partnership enables the development of programs that use sport and its educational and structural values to tackle various social issues within communities.^[5]

In 2018, Peace and Sport 4 field actions were located in 3 major regions: the African Great Lakes region, Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan, and France. Those 4 field actions are:

1. The ''Friendship Games'' is an annual multi-sport event with peace-building activities that gathers youngsters from Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi.^[6]
2. The "Live Together" program takes place in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. It aims at creating social cohesion through sport among refugees of different ages and genders.^[7]
3. The "Sports Workshops" uses sports as a social link creator to make it a vector for integration and professional integration on the French territory.^[8]
4. The "African Great Lakes" program is supported by the involvement of the National Olympic Committees, international sports federations, local authorities, and Champions for Peace, 6 training centers through sports and peace-building activities.

In 2016, Peace and Sport launched a global program called "Act for What Matters".^[9] This is a call for projects to partner with eight NGOs that are active on every continent in the field of peace-building through sport. The goal of this initiative is to develop bonds between international federations, NGOs, NOCs, and local authorities, building the capacity of educators on the ground and helping them to maintain and develop sustainable Sport for Peace programs.

Peace and Sport created a "Sport simple" manual. Sport Simple activities are sporting activities whose practice area, equipment, and rules are adapted to the environment in which it is carried out.^[10]

For example, World Rugby recognizes and promotes "touch rugby", an adapted version of "traditional" rugby. Touch rugby is based on adapted rules and principles that allow participants to play rugby without having to partake in contact.^[11]

The Champions for Peace are high-level international athletes who want to support the most disadvantaged communities through sports. These athletes are gathered in the club of Champions for Peace.^[12] This club allows the champions to have a structure of action and common expression in favor of sports projects in the service of peace and social and human development.

These athletes use their notoriety, skills and their means in the service of projects for the development of peace through sport. The latest athlete to become a Champion for Peace was Argentine football player Lionel Messi in December 2020.^[13]

List of Champions for Peace:

The Peace and Sport International Forum is an annual event taking place in Monaco.It brings together key decision-makers including Heads of State and Ministers, sports governing bodies, high-level athletes, international organizations, NGOs and Academia, and Champions for Peace.^[14] It aims at identifying new solutions to fix international issues through sport.Muhammad Yunus, Didier Drogba or Christian Karembeu^[15] were among the well-known speakers during this event.

Since 2017, Peace and Sport has organized a biennial regional forum to highlight local peace-through-sport initiatives. The first edition took place in Rhodes, Greece on October 18, 2018,^[16] co-organized with the South Aegean region.

At the UN headquarters in New York, on 23 August 2013,^[17] the UN General Assembly declared April 6 as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) – a decision that represented a historic step for the organization and its goals.

This day is commemorated globally each year by international, regional, national sport and development organizations to honor the role that sport plays in society, whether by encouraging healthier lifestyles, making sport more widely accessible, or using it as a vehicle for development in areas made vulnerable by conflict, poverty and inequality.

Peace and Sport has developed a web platform^[18] for expression and promotion aimed at highlighting the initiatives led to celebrate 6 April.

In 3 editions, Peace and Sport and its platform has promoted 840 projects in over 170 countries.

In 2017, Peace and Sport in cooperation with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the 2018 PyeongChang Organizing Committee unified players from the two countries for a photo during the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship Division II Group A in Gangneung. Athletes posed on the ice, holding up a #WhiteCard, the symbol of the sport-for-development-and-peace movement.

In 2018, a new step forward is achieved: Peace and Sport and the IIHF united the joint North–South Korea women's hockey team for a symbolic photo during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.^[19]

In 2015, the first UNFP / Peace and Sport trophy (French National Union of Professional Soccer) was awarded to the campaign "Soyons fiers de nos différences" (Be proud of our differences) led in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 on the initiative of the Ligue de football professionnel and the Panamboyz United.^[20]

During the Sportel Awards Ceremony, Peace and Sport rewarded a filmmaker who, through a video clip or a movie, emphasizes the positive role of sport in peace promotion with the Peace and Sport Documentary Prize.

In 2018, the prize was awarded to Jamillah Van der Hulst for her movie "Fighting for Life".^[21]

In 2016, the Monaco organization partnered with the Monte-Carlo Fighting Trophy to raise funds for Peace and Sport field actions. In 2018, the experience is renewed for the 5th Edition of the Trophy.^[22]

I Move for Peace is a program that enables every active and would-be sportsperson (amateurs, professionals, teams, companies etc.) to put their sporting challenge at the service of fundraising for Peace and Sport's field programs.^[23]