Peace through Sport First in Line for the Grand Depart from Monaco

7/2/2009

Cycling fans will see an unusual presence in the Official Village of the Tour de France 2009: a stand promoting “Peace and Sport, L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport”, an organisation based in the Principality of Monaco, under the High Patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II.

A neutral and apolitical international initiative, Peace and Sport uses sport as a tool to foster education, dialogue, stability and reconciliation of divided communities throughout the world. It intervenes in areas suffering from extreme poverty, lack of social cohesion, or in the aftermath of armed conflict.

With the support of the Principality of Monaco, where this year the Tour de France starts from for the first time in its history, Peace and Sport will have a stand in the Official Village to raise awareness and inform potential partners about its action.

Putting sport at the service of sustainable peace is a cause to which the Principality lends its strong support. Since 2007, Monaco has hosted the annual Peace and Sport International Forum, which each year brings together hundreds of decision-makers from sport and peace. The next edition of the Forum will take place in the Principality from 25-27 November 2009.

The Sovereign of Monaco is no stranger to this cause. The only Head of State who is five-times Olympian and member of the International Olympic Committee, H.S.H. Prince Albert II has made peace and environmental protection priorities in his political policy, using sport as one of his battle-horses to achieve them.

During an official visit to Dili, Timor-Leste, the Prince declared: "Sport has a unique and irreplaceable capacity to unite people, going far beyond ethnical, religious or social differences. Often in crisis-hit communities and in regions confronted by war, only dialogue can lead to the path of peace. I am convinced that sport, which allows men and women to communicate, can be at the long-term service of peace"

Peace and Sport was founded by Joel Bouzou, current President of the organisation. Joel Bouzou is an Olympic medallist, world champion of Modern Pentathlon and current Secretary General for the International Union of Modern Pentathlon (UIPM). He is also an Advisor to H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Peace and Sport currently has interventions underway in Cote d’Ivoire, Burundi, Israel - Palestine, Timor-Leste and in Colombia and is planning to intervene in Haiti in the near future.

For more information on this press release please contact: press@peace-sport.org

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