United Nations DESA Programme on Sport for Development and Peace | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

NEW>> International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP), 4 April 2024: The global theme for 2024 is “Sport for the Promotion of Peaceful and Inclusive Societies”.

UN and Sport News

Call for Inputs from Stakeholders for the 2024 Secretary General’s report on Sport. The deadline is 28 February 2024.

FIFA and United Nations join together to celebrate International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 9 August 2023

Side Event on the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, 6 April 2023

Sport: Catalyst for a Better, Stronger Recovery 2022 Report of the Secretary-General : Summary of Highlights and Key Messages

Thematic paper: The contribution of sport to the Youth, Peace and Security agenda

Expert Group Meeting/ Second Multistakeholder on the “Role of Sport in Addressing Inequalities in times of Crisis and Recovery”, Tuesday 12 April 2022, 08:00-10:00AM (NY time). The outcome will help to shape the Secretary General Report on Sport for Development and Peace to the General Assembly next fall. Information will be made available at a later date.

Social inclusion of children and youth with autism through sports

General Assembly resolution upholds the Olympic Truce
Ahead of the Summer Olympics in Paris next year, the UN General Assembly has urged countries to maintain the ancient Greek tradition of observing peace before, during and after the Games. This follows the adoption on Tuesday of a resolution that calls for a cessation of hostilities globally starting seven days before the opening of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and ending seven days after they conclude. The General Assembly comprises all 193 UN Member States, and 120 voted on the resolution. It received 118 votes in favour and none against, with Russia and Syria abstaining. Read more...

Photo by Mark Metcalfe - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

FIFA and the United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR) jointly staged an event celebrating the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, which has coincided with the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ being played in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The event, held in Sydney/Gadigal, highlighted the challenges facing First Nations and Māori as well as Indigenous people worldwide. First Nations and Māori guests, UN agency representatives and member association representatives joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino and FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura to listen to experts on how to drive change, and how football can play its part. The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ has been used to convey these messages with “Unite for Indigenous Peoples” one of the seven social causes which are being promoted during the tournament. Read more..

Ambassador H.E. Tetsuya Kimura, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations – VNR Lab 2021. For more information, please click here.

Ms. Heidi Latsky, Artistic and Executive Director of the Heidi Latsky Dance, which disrupts space, dismantles normal, and redefines beauty and virtuosity through innovative performance and discourse. Dedicated to reflecting the true diverse nature of the world we live in, HLD brings rigorous, passionate, and thought-provoking work to broad audiences. Learn more about their “On Display Global 2021”.

Interview with H.E. Mrs. Isabelle Picco, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Monaco to the UN. Her bio is available here.

Interview with Dr. Suki H Hoagland, Lecturer in the Earth Systems Program, Stanford University.

Interview with Yuval Wagner, Founder and President of Access Israel.

Message from Nicole Matuska, GRLS Director at Women Win.

Interview with Annika Bryson Emmert

Meet our Team

Melissa Martin

Ms. Melissa Martin, is a Social Affairs Officer in the Division for Inclusive Social Development since 2015. She is the focal point and lead expert on sport for development and peace. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Law and International Studies, and a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies. Since she joined the United Nations she has been working on social development issues promoting the rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as sport as an enabler of sustainable development and peace, liaising with UN entities on this topic for 5+ years. A former researcher on peace and conflict transformation, forensic psychology and law, she has published several journal articles on post-conflict reintegration and rehabilitation, and police conduct during investigative interviews.

Amine Lamrabat

Mr. Amine Lamrabat, is an Information Officer at the Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD) since 2008 and joined the UN in 2004. He holds a Master of Science in Technology from Pace University, New York and a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Marketing. Over the past ten years, he has been working on social development issues (ageing, youth, family, indigenous peoples, cooperatives and persons with disabilities), civil society, communication and outreach, as well as innovation and digital technologies. He coordinates the participation of NGOs in many UNDESA’s major events.

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Amna Salatt

Amna Salatt is a Junior Professional Officer (JPO) in the Division for Inclusive Social Development. She holds a bachelor's degree in International Politics from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Prior to joining, Amna worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qatar, maintaining Qatari interests within the multilateral realm with a focus on economic and social issues, ranging from sustainable development, human rights issues, and access to quality education.

International Days

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, 6 April

To raise awareness of this potential, 6 April was declared as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) by the UN General Assembly in its Resolution (A/RES/67/296). The adoption of this Day signifies the increasing recognition by the UN of the positive influence that sport can have on the advancement of human rights, and social and economic development.

The UN General Assembly also recognizes the role that the International Paralympic Committee plays in showcasing the achievements of athletes with an impairment to a global audience and in acting as a primary vehicle to change societal perceptions of disability sport.

Learn more about the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.

World Basketball Day, 21 December

UNICEF Srbija/2022/Vaš

Sport, including sport for persons with disabilities, has an important role to play in the promotion of peace and development, respect for human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, in particular basketball, given its universal popularity.

Basketball creates a unique space of cooperation, physical movement and an interdependence that allows participants to see each other as human beings first and foremost. On December 21st, we will celebrate the first-ever World Basketball Day. A new UN Resolution has been proclaimed to establish this Day:
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New Compendium on Sport for Development and Peace

Sport Photo

The Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD) at UNDESA is preparing a new Compendium on Sport for Development and Peace to capture the emerging trends and provide timely analysis of policies related to the mandate on Sport for Development and Peace.

This Compendium will highlight the cases shared by Member States and aims to serve as an inspiration to policymakers.

Draft first results of the questionnaire

UN Advocacy Brief on Recovering Better: Sport for Development and Peace

Sport UN DESA launched an advocacy brief on 15 December 2020, co-led by UN-Women, titled ‘Recovering Better: Sport for Development and Peace Reopening, Recovery and Resilience Post-COVID-19’. The brief was collaboratively drafted by sport focal points in the following entities: World Health Organization, UN Office for Drugs and Crime, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, International Labour Organization, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UN Children’s Fund, UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, UN Climate Change, UN Environment Programme and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

The brief sets out a vision to support the reopening, recovery, and resilience of sport. The brief first highlights critical intersects between sport, physical activity, SDG achievement, and COVID-19 impact, the consequences of these intersect for our individual and collective wellbeing, and ideas for addressing these consequences. It then presents critical actions or issues to be addressed across four key areas – promoting human rights and combatting discrimination; ensuring equal access to sport and physical activity; safeguarding participants, and ensuring integrity in sport- seeking to imagine the necessary course adjustments for bringing the sporting world safely back into full operation with renewed and refocused vigor.

Download the advocacy brief on ‘Recovering Better: Sport for Development and Peace Reopening, Recovery and Resilience Post-COVID-19’.

UN Responses to COVID-19

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Ensuring that integrity is at the core of sport’s response to the pandemic: Preventing corruption in sport and manipulation of competitions by UNODC
United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
COVID-19, Women, Girls and Sport: Build Back Better, Policy Brief by UN Women
World Health Organization (WHO)
Considerations for sports federations/sports event organizers when planning mass gatherings in the context of COVID-19 by WHO
An Overview of the Sport-Related Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children by the Centre for Sport and Human Rights
Ensuring that integrity is at the core of sport’s response to the pandemic: Preventing corruption in sport and manipulation of competitions by UNODC
The impact of COVID-19 on sport, physical activity and well-being and its effects on social development – UN/DESA Policy Brief #73
Sport in the time of pandemic: an ibero-american perspective by UNESCO Office Montevideo and Regional Bureau for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Ibero-American Sports Council. English | Español | Portugués

UN DESA Policy Briefs

Policy Brief on “Addressing Climate Change Through Sport”, 2 February 2022: Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our times. Sport plays an important role as part of the solution. Sport is a key social platform that can reach and influence millions of peoples worldwide and raise awareness on climate change, promote a culture in favour of climate action, and champion sustainable behaviours.

Policy Brief on “The impact of COVID-19 on sport, physical activity and well-being and its effects on social development”, 14 May 2020: This policy brief highlights the challenges COVID-19 has posed to both the sporting world and to physical activity and well-being, including for marginalized or vulnerable groups. It further provides recommendations for Governments and other stakeholders, as well as for the UN system, to support the safe reopening of sporting events, as well as to support physical activity during the pandemic and beyond.

UN General Assembly Resolutions

UN normative instruments, frameworks and guidelines

Meetings and Online Webinars

Inclusive sustainable development: youth, sport and the 2030 Agenda, 7 July, 1-2:30 pm (EDT)

UN DESA’s Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD), which houses the substantive mandate on sport for development and peace at the United Nations, is organizing a Voluntary National Review (VNR) Lab at the 2021 HLPF entitled “Inclusive Social Development: Youth, Sports and the 2030 Agenda”. The lab will examine progress on how youth involvement in sport can contribute to promoting inclusive sustainable development and peace and provide a platform for Members States, youth, and other national and regional stakeholders, to share their experiences – both successes and challenges – about supporting youth empowerment through sport programmes.

Reimagining cooperation on sport for persons with disabilities, leaving no one behind, 10 November 2020
The webinar organized by UNDESA’s Division for Inclusive Social Development, aimed at raising awareness and identifying collaborative innovative solutions and responses to recovering better from the pandemic with a focus on building more equal, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economies and societies by engaging persons with disabilities and other stakeholders through sport. Watch video of the event

Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on the role of technology in advancing sport for development and peace, 15 December 2020
UN DESA/DISD organized the present multi-stakeholder dialogue as part of these efforts and in the context of the United Nations Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. The dialogue brought together stakeholders from different sectors with diverse backgrounds and experiences to share new research and good practices and to identify challenges, opportunities and policy recommendations on a key issue: the critical role that technology can play in advancing sport as an enabler of development and peace. Watch video of the event | Summary of the event

Sport and Physical Activity During COVID-19