Violence-hit countries seek return of sport

Dubai: Successive speakers on the opening day of the Peace and Sport Forum Dubai 2013 drove home the point that sport has a much bigger role to play today than at any other time.

“Give peace a chance, be it in Iraq or in Palestine or Syria. This entire region deserves peace and our challenge today lies in waking up to a reality that peace has been elusive, and all due to our own shortcomings,” said Shaikh Fahim Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, former Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council for Arab Gulf States.

“It is time we wake up to reality and see the huge damage we have done to our children’s future. Do we need them to accuse us of putting their future in unsafe hands? Let them not make us the culprits for spoiling their future. We have this moral responsibility to secure a better tomorrow for their sake.”

Al Omari Farouq Al Omari, Minister of Sport in Egypt, shared his experiences on “untying the knot of politics in sports”, saying: “The Arab Spring has destroyed the atmosphere in this part of the world and the pursuit of sport by our youth has suffered. We need to set this right and we are already pursuing a fresh policy on how to get our children back to the playing fields.”

One of the fallouts of the revolution in Egypt was the disbanding of 58 sports associations and federations, but the Mohammad Mursi-led government has now adopted measures to try and rectify the situation.

“Each of the 22 universities in Egypt will have new sports clubs with free and open membership to all students, while another 273 sport complexes are being built for schools all over the country. The Prime Minister has laid out 250 acres of land for sports purposes and sport is now a compulsory subject in the curriculum,” Al Omari said.

Reading out a speech from IOC President Jacques Rogge, IOC Vice President Nawal Al Moutawakel said that sport plays a crucial role in helping sort out political and social issues. “But we are not Utopians. While we realise that sport has a role to play, it can not ensure permanent peace. Each of us needs to play his or her role as well,” she said.

Iraq’s Minister of Youth and Sport Jasim Mohammad Jaafar made a fervent plea to the IOC and other sports bodies attending the forum.

“Something has happened in Iraq and we need the IOC to intervene to avert this dangerous situation where there is so much hatred between people. We need help to try and correct this situation,” he said.

Al Moutawakel assured the Iraq minister that action would be initiated by the world governing body for sport. “We have felt the pain of the people of Iraq as such things go against the principles of the Olympic Movement. We can meet and discuss together to make things better,” she said.