Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,
Mr. Dennis Francis,
at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime side event titled, “Score against Crime: Harnessing sports for crime prevention through partnerships”
5 June 2024
[As Delivered]
Your Excellency, Ms. Kirsty Coventry, International Olympic Committee Executive Board Member and Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation of Zimbabwe,
Mr. Ivo Šrámek, Chair of the 33rd session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank Executive Director Ghada Waly for the kind invitation to join you today.
Let me also commend the International Olympic Committee for co-organizing this event, as well as Italy, Monaco, Jamaica, and Qatar as co-sponsors – shining a spotlight on ways to integrate sport into youth crime prevention and criminal justice strategies through their steadfast support and commitment.
This important event – and the General Assembly High-level Debate on this critical issue today – are together amplifying the objectives of relevant General Assembly resolutions, fostering collaboration between Member States and sports organizations; and also facilitating the exchange of best practices, including through the provision of technical assistance.
Dear Friends,
Sport is a powerful means to build safe, more just and peaceful communities.
It is a critical enabler of the Sustainable Development Goals – including SDG16 on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.
And it plays an absolutely vital role in empowering young people as agents of change – fostering skills to build trust, teamwork, and leadership, promote gender equality, strengthen resilience against violence, and engender positive behaviours for dealing with conflict and loss.
These are lessons that last a lifetime – and can be particularly effective in keeping young people from falling into or being forced to relapse into violence and crime.
This is all the more reason why we need greater political and financial investment in crime prevention strategies to achieve the targets for safe and peaceful societies, embodied in SDG16.
I encourage Member States – with UNODC’s support – to strengthen community-based measures that successfully address risk factors of crime and violence among young people.
This includes the provision of sport and recreational facilities and programmes.
I recognize the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice – as the principal policymaking body of the UN in the field of crime prevention – and UNODC for launching sport programmes specifically designed to prevent crime and empower young people.
I also acknowledge the inspiring partnership between UNODC and IOC – demonstrating the immense potential for greater impact when diverse stakeholders join forces in pursuit of a common goal.
The SCORE initiative – with its focus on cooperation with sport actors – offers a premier example of how we all can leverage the power of sport to achieve the SDGs.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I leave you with the inspiring story of Jean-Baptiste Alaize – who survived the massacres in Burundi in the 1990s and who went on to become a Paralympic athlete – and has spoken powerfully about the role of sport in helping him to overcome the visible and invisible wounds of war.
“Sport took me out of silence and trauma,” he has said. “It allows me to go beyond my suffering, to discuss and to share about life experience.”
For every child born into or growing up in an environment of conflict and violence, sport – and role models like Jean-Baptiste Alaize – can not only provide a lifeline assurance to survive but motivate a choice to become an adult inspired to build peace.
In this Olympic year – and as we prepare for the Summit of the Future in September 2024 – let us harness the power of sport to prevent crime, to build resilience, to strengthen public-private partnerships to maximize the positive impact of sports and to create a critical tipping point for change across all sectors of society, everywhere.
I thank you.
___
PGA’s Website: https://www.un.org/pga/78/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@unpga78
X (Twitter): www.twitter.com/UN_PGA
Instagram: www.instagram.com/unpga
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/un-pga78/
