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Sport for peace and development; Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal: joint debate

Background: Sport for peace and development

The item entitled "International Year of Sport and Physical Education" was included in the provisional agenda of the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly at the request of Tunisia (A/58/142). The Assembly decided that it should become subitem (b) of a new item entitled "Sport for peace and development" (decision 58/503 A) [page 61].

At the same session, the General Assembly proclaimed 2005 the International Year of Sport and Physical Education, as a means to promote education, health, development and peace (resolution 58/5). The General Assembly continued its consideration of the sub-item at the fifty-ninth and sixtieth sessions (resolutions 59/10 and 60/9).

At its sixty-first session, the General Assembly invited Member States to initiate sports programmes to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women; and encouraged Member States to ratify the International Convention against Doping in Sport; encouraged the Secretary-General to maintain the mandate of Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace and to provide guidance on the institutional future of sport for development and peace within the United Nations system; and requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its sixtysecond session on the implementation of the resolution and on progress at the national, regional and international levels to encourage policies and best practices related to sport for development and peace (resolution 61/10).

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References for the sixty-first session (agenda item 49)

Background: Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal

The item entitled "Building a peaceful and better world through sport" was included in the agenda of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly, in 1993, at the request of Egypt, in its capacity as Chair of the Organization of African Unity (A/48/237).

The General Assembly considered the item at its forty-eighth to fiftieth, fiftysecond, fifty-fourth and fifty-sixth sessions (resolutions 48/11, 49/29, 50/13, 52/21, 54/34 and 56/75 and decisions 50/486 [page 53] and 52/460 [page 61]). At its forty-ninth session, the Assembly decided to include an item entitled "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal" in the provisional agenda of its fiftieth session (resolution 49/29).

At its fifty-eighth session, the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the General Committee (A/58/250, para. 42), decided to include a new item entitled "Sport for peace and development" in its agenda of that session, and to make the item entitled "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal" sub-item (a) of the new item, with a sub-item (b) entitled "International Year of Sport and Physical Education" (decision 58/503 A [page 61]).

At the same session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to promote the observance of the Olympic Truce among Member States and support for human development initiatives through sport, and to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee in the realization of those objectives (resolution 58/6). The Assembly also took note of the solemn appeal made by the President of the General Assembly on 4 August 2004 in connection with the observance of the Olympic Truce (decision 58/570) [page 62].

At its resumed fifty-eighth session, in July 2004, under the item entitled "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly"(resolution 58/316), the General Assembly decided that the sub-item should be considered every other year.

At its sixtieth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to promote the observance of the Olympic Truce among Member States, drawing the attention of world public opinion to the contribution such a truce would make to the promotion of international understanding, peace and goodwill, and to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee in the realization of that objective; and decided to consider the sub-item entitled "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal" during its sixty-second session before the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, to be held in Beijing in 2008 (resolution 60/8).

References for the fifty-eighth session (agenda item 55)
References for the sixtieth session (agenda item 48 (a) and (b))

[Source: Annotated preliminary list of items to be included in the provisional agenda of the sixty-second regular session of the General Assembly (A/62/100, Corr. 1 and Add.1)]