 The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, is currently on an official visit to the Principality of Monaco, where he will attend the opening this evening of the Peace and Sport International Forum 2009. Earlier today, President Türk met with Prince Albert II of Monaco.
Prince Albert thanked Dr Türk for attending the forum and offered an invitation to him to visit Monaco next year, along with an economic delegation. The two dignitaries exchanged views on the development of preparations for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December. They also touched upon the recent FAO World Summit on Food Security, at which President Türk emphasised that the world lacks sufficient political will to resolve the problems of hunger and severe poverty.
While discussing the operation of the Portoro¾-based Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI), Dr Türk offered an invitation to Prince Albert to attend the World Conference on Higher Education to be held in Slovenia next year. The two were pleased to confirm mutual support for the candidacy of their respective countries for membership of the UN Security Council. President Türk described for Prince Albert the process of medical treatment of the second group of disabled children from Gaza, who have recently undergone rehabilitation in Slovenia. |
Address by Dr Danilo Türk, President of the Republic of Slovenia, at the 3rd Peace and Sport International Forum 2009
Monaco, 25 November 2009
 His Serene Highness,
Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It’s a great privilege and a great pleasure to address you at this 3rd Peace and Sport International Forum 2009 as President of Slovenia. In doing so I’m very well aware of the importance of this important task and also of the contribution that Monaco has been making as a Member State of the United Nations to such noble causes as protection of environment, development of cultural heritage and now in the area of promotion of sport as an instrument of peace. These are important contributions and this is an important forum.
I’m a President of Slovenia, a country, which has just a week ago qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. This gives me an additional sense of legitimacy to stand before you and to speak. Today, a week after this important event people of Slovenia feel proud, they feel very much part of the world and they are thinking about South Africa much more than before and in many new ways. They are thinking about South Africa as a country, which has gone through a struggle for human rights and which will be place where the entire world will cooperate, cooperate in the form of a sport championship. And they are very excited about this event, which is to take place next year.
Today we are gathered here to think about peace and sport in the most comprehensive possible way. It is important to keep in mind the experience of the United Nations in that regard. The United Nations has been addressing this issue for a long time. But if one looks at the most recent report of the Secretary-General and General Assembly one would see that already there is an emerging comprehensive concept of the interrelationship between peace and sport. It’s clearly recognised that peace is much more than simply absence of war. Peace must mean development and development must mean attainment of Millennium Development Goals.
If one looks at each of the development goals one would see a close interrelationship between sport and the relevant development goal. So for example if one talks about overcoming poverty one can see that sport can play an extremely important role in making sure that people, especially young people develop a proper self-esteem and self-awareness, an ethical constitution and respect for the others, extremely important ethical ingredients necessary to overcome poverty. Then, education. Clearly, physical education and sport are very closely linked to any progress in the area of human advancement. Health – there is almost no need to discuss the close interrelationship between sport and health.
So, when thinking about peace and sport one can see that this relationship is really fundamental and comprehensive. But one also has to be practical and one must see a very practical relationship between sport and peace. Let us think about what it means for countries coming out of wars to develop full normalcy, full societal normalcy in post-conflict situations. That is simply impossible without giving people, especially young people the opportunity to engage in sport, to develop their ethical constitution and to understand and respect others. Again, prevention of recurrence of war is clearly something where sport can help.
And finally, there are important humanitarian aspects, which also have to be given thought. Earlier this year Slovenia has launched an initiative to help the disabled children in Gaza. There was a military conflict in Gaza in the beginning of this year and that resulted in many children losing their limbs. We in Slovenia are trying to help as many as we can by physical and psychological rehabilitation. And we have discovered the importance of sport in that context as well. Imagine a young boy of the age of ten who lost one leg. Such a young person is extremely motivated to work with therapists to recover his normalcy to the extent possible. And nothing is more effective and more pleasing than to see that they, victims of war, can walk, they can run and some even play football.
Now, as I said in the beginning, Slovenia is proud to have a team, which has qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. But we are even more proud of the fact that we are able to help few young people, few children from Gaza and to do so in a very practical way, to recover their ability to engage in sport. Because that’s their way to normalcy, that’s their way to their own individual peace. Let us not forget all these many links, which bind together the noble objectives of peace as an aspiration, as something all people are entitled to, and sport as an activity, as something all people can contribute to.
I wish this third forum great success in its work and I believe that the contribution this forum will make will further amplify the work of the United Nations and help our common humanity.
Thank you. |