Sports Diplomacy News 08/17/2013 – 09/01/2013

Posted by sportdiplomacy ⋅ August 30, 2013 ⋅ Leave a comment

Sports Diplomacy News

08/17/2013 – 09/01/2013

08/20/2013 – Afghanistan faced Pakistan in the first football match between the two countries in the last 30 years. The game raised hopes that sport could help ease political tensions, but was also aimed to show Afghanistan’s return to normality after years of war and violence. One of the supporters told the media that even the Taliban let him pass to go watch the game.

08/21/2013 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) finds itself in a very embarrassing position following the new legislation introduced by Putin’s governement. The new laws passed in Russia are considered by many as “crackdown on homosexuality” in that country. This situation looks a lot like the controversy which emerged just before the Games held in Beijing in 2008. Once again, universal values defended by the Olympic ideal are confronted with rules established by a powerful, sovereign host country.

08/21/2013 – As the North Korean governement has just cancelled U.S. envoy’s visit to Pyongyang, Natalie Shobana Ambrose reminds us that ex-basketball star Dennis Rodman has recently watched a game with supreme leader Kim Jung-un in the DPRK. If not decisive, this meeting led CNN to say that “If any American has the power of persuasion over North Korea’s defiant young ruler, it might be eccentric ex-basketball star Dennis Rodman”.

08/23/2013 – The United Nations took a historic decision as the General Assembly unanimously approved a proclamation establishing the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. IOC President Jacques Rogge told the Assembly: “Sport with values is a gateway to cultural understanding, education, health and economic and social development”. Tennis player Novak Djokovic added that “Sport has unique convening power”, while Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, the American Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN said that “That diversity and universality of participation is what makes sport the opportunity to advance development and peace, as noted in today’s resolution”.

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