Qatar's Permanent Delegation to the UN Office and other international organisations in Geneva, in collaboration with the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), Education Above All Foundation (EAA), and Geneva Peace Week 2024, organised a panel discussion on leveraging sports role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The event, held as part of Geneva Peace Week 2024, was attended by a large number of representatives from diplomatic missions, international organisations, academics, and students.
Key speakers included Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Delegation of Qatar Jawhara bint Abdulaziz al-Suwaidi, CEO of Education Above All Fahad al-Sulaiti (who participated via video), President of ICSS Mohammed al-Hanzab and Aziyade Poltier from the Director General's office at the UN Office. Panellists also included CEO of ICSS Massimiliano Montanari, and Honey Thaljieh, who is the founder and first captain of the Palestinian women's national football team.
In her remarks, al-Suwaidi emphasised Qatar's belief in the power of sport as a universal language with immense potential to promote peace, tolerance, and understanding by building bridges and uniting people across borders.
She highlighted that sport provides an ideal platform for fostering a culture of peace by promoting values such as respect for cultural and ethnic backgrounds, physical capacity, and abilities regardless of age or disability. Sport also instills and enhances values like discipline, teamwork, fairness, and justice values that are essential for social cohesion and preventing conflict within communities.
Al-Suwaidi pointed out that sports-based initiatives have proven effective in promoting peace, conflict resolution, and stability worldwide, while also helping to achieve various sustainable development goals (SDGs). She noted that Qatar's commitment to sports is part of a strategic approach aimed at achieving the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030, with major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the 2019 World Athletics Championships serving as unique opportunities to spread and enhance values of brotherhood, solidarity, peace, and human rights.
She also mentioned Qatar's active role in utilising sport within multilateral diplomacy frameworks, being a member of the "Group of Friends of Sport for Development and Peace" in both Geneva and New York. This is an informal intergovernmental platform that promotes dialogue and encourages UN member states to integrate sports into their policies and strategies actively.
The Deputy Permanent Representative praised Qatar's innovative initiative, which began in 2022, of organising an annual football tournament for the diplomatic community in Geneva, in collaboration with the UN Office in Geneva and various Qatari institutions. She noted the success of the tournament in achieving numerous diplomatic objectives and announced that the fourth edition of the tournament will take place on May 25, 2025, coinciding with the second anniversary of the International Day of Football.
Speakers expressed their gratitude to Qatar for the initiative and its dedication to leveraging sports for noble goals, including promoting global peace. They focused on the importance of integrating sports into educational programmes to promote peace and its effectiveness during and after conflicts, as a key mechanism for building trust and promoting the respect, protection, and fulfillment of human rights.
They emphasised the challenges facing sports for peace, such as a lack of funding, leadership, political support, and partnerships, underscoring the need to intensify efforts to build strong partnerships and provide the necessary resources to support peace-promoting initiatives through sports.
Speakers also highlighted major sporting events and their role in fostering peace and understanding among nations, referencing Qatars successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2022. They explained how this event promoted peace through sport, reflecting values of international cooperation, openness, and cultural respect.
It is worth noting that Geneva Peace Week is a leading annual forum on the international peacebuilding calendar that brings together organisations in Geneva and international partners to share knowledge and practice on a variety of peace-related topics across different contexts and disciplines.
