International Day of Sport for Development and Peace observed

6 April: International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) was observed across the world on 6 April 2017. The date commemorates the inauguration of the first Olympic games of the modern era, in Athens (Greece) in 1896.

The United Nations General Assembly on 23 August 2013 through its resolution A/RES/67/296 decided to proclaim 6 April as the International Day of the Sport for the Development and the Peace. The day has been celebrated each year since 2014.

The adoption of the day for sports signifies that sports can have a positive influence on the advancement of human rights and economic development.

Besides, the United States has also emphasised on the role of sports for social progress in its Declaration of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It says, “Due to its vast reach, unparalleled popularity and foundation of positive values, sport is ideally positioned to contribute towards the United Nations’ objectives for development and peace”.

It says that sports is an important enabler of the sustainable development and recognises the growing contribution of sport to the realisation of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect. Sports also contributes in empowering women and young people, communities and individuals as well as the health, education and social inclusion objectives.

In addition to this, the UNSC during its fifty-eighth session proclaimed 2005 as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education to promote education, health, development and peace.