Sport Recreation and Play

In July 2002, the United Nations Secretary-General convened an Inter-AgencyTask Force to review activities involving sport within the United Nations system.TheTask Force, co-chaired by Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF and Adolf Ogi, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, brought together 10 UN organizations with significant experience of using sport in their work. Several months later, theTask Force produced Sport for Development and Peace:Towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.The comprehensive report concluded that sport - from play and physical activity to organised and competitive sport - is a powerful and cost-effective way to advance the Millennium Development Goals, the agenda agreed to by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit, and ‘A World Fit for Children’. In 2003, the Governments of Switzerland and the Netherlands hosted global conferences on sports for development. Both the Swiss conference, which led to the Magglingen Declaration, and the ‘Next Step’ conference in the Netherlands brought together for the first time sports, government, UN and non-governmental organisation partners from around the world. That same year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the role of sport as a means to promote health, education, development and peace, proclaiming 2005 as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education.