Date: Thursday, 6 April 2023; 10th Anniversary.
Sponsor: United Nations
Objectives:
The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) is annually celebrated for the following purposes:
- To recognize the power of sport in driving community development, erasing cultural barriers, and promoting a peaceful world.
- To recognize the role of sport in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, addressing the climate crisis, and promoting sustainable development.
History:
The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace was celebrated for the first time on 6 April 2014.
On 23 August 2013, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution (A/RES/67/296) declaring 6 April of each year as the “International Day of the Sport for the Development and the Peace”, to celebrate the contribution of sports and physical activity to education, human development, healthy lifestyles, and a peaceful world.
This date also marks the opening of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. Since 2014, the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace was endorsed and coordinated annually by the International Olympic Committee.
Why do we mark International Day of Sport for Development and Peace?
Traditionally, sport plays an important role in all societies. It has been increasingly recognized and used as a cost-effective, flexible, and high-impact tool in humanitarian and peacebuilding efforts. In addition to the benefits to health promotion and disease prevention, sport is a powerful means to bridge cultural understanding, strengthen social ties, improve education, and promote socioeconomic development.
Sport is also an important facilitator or motivator of sustainable development. The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has recognized “the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities.”
In the era of global warming, sport plays a role in combating climate crisis. According to the United Nations, sport is in a unique position to engage in a climate neutral journey, lower greenhouse gas emissions, take responsibility for individual carbon footprint, incentivize actions beyond the sporting sector, and play a major role in promoting awareness of climate change among its billions of participants, facilitators, and spectators around the world.
Global theme of International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2022
Having announced by the United Nations, the global theme of IDSDP 2022 is “Securing a Sustainable and Peaceful Future for All: The Contribution of Sport”, which creates an opportunity for the Day’s celebrations to promote the use of sport as a tool to advance human rights and sustainable development.
Official websites:
www.un.org/en/observances/sport-day
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