UNESCO at Soccerex: Promoting Physical Education for Human and Social Development Purposes

UNESCO will participate in SOCCEREX 2006, Business Convention for Football, which will be held 26-28 November 2006 in Dubai and marks the tenth anniversary of SOCCEREX. Sport is a universal language with an unparalleled ability to bring people together. For this reason, it is an important instrument for achieving human and social development and for promoting harmonious relations between countries.

The growing number of organizations in the private sector showing interest in cooperating with UNESCO in the domain of physical education and Sport (PES) is remarkable. SOCCEREX, “the business convention for football worldwide”, is showing great interest in promoting the goals and objectives of UNESCO in the field of physical education and sport and especially in actions towards raising the profile of PES on the global level.
The cooperation proposed by SOCCEREX is founded on three principles: to help develop a greater visibility for UNESCO’s actions in the sports milieu, to facilitate cooperation with other actors in the private sector, and to help mobilise extra-budgetary resources with these parties.

UNESCO’s will be discussing their key objectives:

*To promote sport activities in a spirit of fair play, mutual respect, fairness, and good sportsmanship;
*To promote human rights and transmit values of tolerance, non-violence, equity inclusiveness and peace;
*To help achieve ‘quality physical education for all’ in formal and informal education systems;
*To preserve cultural identity and encourage cultural diversity through traditional sports and games;
*To guarantee the participation of women and people with disabilities in sport;
*To raise awareness to the health benefits of sport;
*To disseminate information on the risks of drug abuse, particularly of doping in sport.

As part of Soccerex, an exhibition of the works of the renowned Makis Warlamis is being planned, to highlight the importance of the secular link between culture and sport.

UNESCO designs and helps implementing projects worldwide aimed at addressing the following issues: traditional sports and games, quality physical education, women and sport, anti-doping, sport and HIV/AIDS.

Also of related interest:

*Our previous article on UNESCO and Sports: "Winning at Any Cost?", The September 2006 UNESCO-Courier issue
*The UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport

*Sport for the Development of Peace: UNESCO and SHS
*International Charter for Physical Education and Sport