Special Adviser Wilfried Lemke

From left: Francesco Toldo, Special Adviser Wilfried Lemke, Amb. Cesare Maria Ragaglini and Luís Figo. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

NEW YORK: Football stars Luis Figo and Francesco Toldo were at the United Nations on Thursday for the launch of a new partnership between the world body and the charitable organization Inter Campus, which the Italian soccer team Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan) runs to help disadvantaged youth.

The retired players spoke of their involvement in the charity, which is currently helping 10,000 children in need in 25 countries worldwide with its football-based social and cooperation programs – and will open a campus in Tunisia with the UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP).

“It is a fantastic partnership for us (that) will give us great credibility in the work we are doing,” Figo, a midfielder who played for Inter Milan, among other teams, and was chosen to play for his native Portugal more than any other player in history, said in an interview with the UN News Centre.

He spoke of the partnership being “for life,” adding that the UN could give Inter Campus the “right support and the right partners to continue to develop.”

Toldo spoke of how Inter Campus works in many of the same areas of the world where the UN is equally deeply committed to advancing peace, security and development agendas – not least in the Middle East, where he said the charity had used football to bring together 100 Israeli and 100 Palestinian children.

“Initially, when these children entered the football pitch, the Israelis and Palestinians occupied opposite sides,” Toldo, a retired goalkeeper from Italy, whose 20-year career included nine seasons with Inter Milan, said in a separate interview.

“But when we gave them footballs and Inter shirts, they immediately mixed and played together.”

The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, Wilfried Lemke, said that Inter Milan had become a “role model” for other soccer clubs that were now beginning to do more in the field of “social responsibility.”

“We are focusing on how we can use sport as a tool for development and peace,” he said of the UN’s efforts in this area, as he briefed reporters at UN Headquarters. “And there, we need role models.”

Italy’s Ambassador to the UN, Cesare Maria Ragaglini, said the Inter Campus initiative had given children in some of the world’s most disadvantaged countries, including many torn apart by war, the “right to play and the right to smile.”

Throughout the day, the players highlighted programs in such countries as Angola, Venezuela and Brazil.

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti founded Inter Campus in 1996, and operations began a year later. Run today by Moratti’s daughter, Carlotta Moratti, the charity partners not only with local non-governmental agencies, but also private sector businesses, which cover program costs.

Figo said that he got involved in Inter Campus not only because he thought it a worthy cause, but because he too felt good when he saw the results.

“I know we cannot change the world, but if we can change the life – in this case of thousands of kids – the satisfaction is huge,” he said.

“I think that the community of football has a responsibility in terms of social integration,” he added.

Toldo said he liked the idea of “giving back” to youth who did not have hope.

Tags: Francesco Toldo, Wilfried Lemke, Inter Milan, Cesare Maria Ragaglini, Special Adviser Wilfried Lemke, Internazionale Milano, Luis Figo

Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace Wilfried Lemke. Photo: UNOSDP/K&W Bringmeier

The United Nations envoy on sport for peace on Friday welcomed the decision made by Saudi Arabia to send female athletes to London to compete in the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

“This decision, following a similar one by Brunei Darussalam and Qatar, marks a significant progress in realizing the right of all to take part in physical and sporting activities, and hence achieving greater gender equality in sport,” the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, Wilfried Lemke, said in a news release.

“Decisions such as the one taken today by the Saudi Arabian authorities definitely set a positive example and bring us gradually closer to the realization of a more equitable future, on and off the field of play,” he added.

According to the International Olympic Committee, Saudi Arabia will send two female athletes – Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani, who will compete in judo, and Sarah Attar, who will compete in athletics – to the 2012 Games, which start on July 27 in the UK capital.

Lemke noted that the UN family, the Olympic Movement and their partners, have long worked together to promote the participation of women in sports activities and competitions, as well as in management and leadership roles.

“This is for instance reflected in the fact that today, at the Olympics, participation of athletes is almost equally balanced between women and men,” he said, adding, however, that women and girls still face today a great deal of discrimination and marginalization in all sectors of society around the world.

“This saddening reality applies to the world of sport, despite the remarkable advances made in that area over the past decades,” the Special Adviser said.

“The practice of sport and physical activity, at all levels, can have immense benefits for individuals, communities and societies. No one should, on the basis of gender, race, ability, age, culture or religious considerations, be denied access to sport and miss on the positive effects its practice can bring.”

One of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – anti-poverty and development targets agreed on by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000 – aims at “promoting gender equality and empowering women.” Lemke’s office has noted that sport has been recognized as a viable and practical tool to assist in the achievement of the MDGs.

In February, at the 5th World Conference on Women and Sport, organized by the IOC and attended by several UN officials, including Special Adviser Wilfried Lemke, participants adopted a declaration which said that “the promotion of women’s participation in sports activities, management and administration should, and must, serve the wider goal of supporting the international agenda of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.”

Tags: Development and Peace, International Olympic Committee, female athletes, Special Adviser Wilfried Lemke, Development and Peace Wilfried Lemke, 2012 Summer Olympic Games

Archive for Special Adviser Wilfried Lemke

New partnership launched between UN, Inter Milan to help young people

UN praises Saudi decision on female athletes at Olympics