UNESCO Promotes "Work to Ride"

UNESCO has highlighted this video of a Philadelphia program that gives city kids the opportunity to play polo. It is part of its effort to show how sports can bring cultures together. Click here to check out the Work to Ride website.

Movie Premiere: Clint Eastwood’s Invictus

The French Premiere of Invictus is being hosted by UNESCO in Paris on 11 January 2010. The objective is to highlight the power of “sport for reconciliation”, and the importance of the fight against racism to the cause of peace and conflict resolution.

This major event is being organized by UNESCO, the United Nations’ lead agency for Physical Education and Sport (PES), in collaboration with Havas Sports & Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is produced and directed by Clint Eastwood and is based on Nelson Mandela’s life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. The UNESCO Premiere will bring together political figures, UNESCO Champions for Sport and VIPs from the field of sport to celebrate and advocate for the power of “sport for reconciliation”.

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Olympic panel applauds Senate OK of doping policy

Source: Chicago Sun Times, July 23, 2008.

Chicago's Olympic bid group Tuesday hailed a U.S. Senate ratification of the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.

"We are pleased the U.S. Senate recognizes the importance of UNESCO's anti-doping treaty and shares in this common goal to support the integrity and spirit of the Olympic Games," Chicago 2016 chairman Pat Ryan said in a statement. "As a bid we are committed to clean competition.''

Bush Sends UNESCO Anti-Doping Treaty to Senate

Cycling News reports:

The United States took one step closer to signing a treaty intended to help fight doping in sport when President Bush asked the Senate to ratify the International Convention Against Doping in Sport on Thursday. The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA)-backed agreement, which was drawn up under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has already been ratified by more than 70 other nations.

The UNESCO treaty formalizes global anti-doping rules under the WADA code, getting around issues which prevented some governments, such as the United States, from being legally bound by documents of non-governmental organizations such as WADA.
The White House statement noted that the treaty was in agreement with existing US laws and policies, but the aim was to "solidify our Nation's place as a leader in the worldwide effort to rid athletics of cheating through chemistry."

The administration's decision to move toward ratification of the International Convention Against Doping in Sport is receiving positive press attention worldwide..

Accelerated ratification of UNESCO's Convention against Doping in Sport for Olympic Games

Following a call by President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, to render cities in countries that have not ratified the International Convention against Doping in Sport ineligible to host the Olympic Games, the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, urged the international community to speed up the ratification process.

Read the full UNESCO press release.

Read more about UNESCO's anitdoping campaign.