Sport serving development and peace: Achieving the goals of the United Nations through sport

In recent years, the international community has increasingly recognised and drawn on the power of sport as a means to promote development and peace. Since the appointment of the first Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace in 2001, the United Nations has promoted sport as a cost-effective tool to accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and to promote peace. It has been proved that the systematic and coherent use of sport can make an important contribution to public health; universal education; gender equality; poverty reduction; prevention of HIV and AIDS and other diseases; environmental sustainability as well as peace-building and conflict resolution. Since the International Year of Sport and Physical Education 2005, United Nations Member States have increasingly recognized in their national legislation and policies the role of sport in dealing with numerous domestic foreign policy challenges.