GENEVA: Qatar has affirmed that sports, as a universal language, play a significant role in promoting human rights values and principles such as equality, tolerance, cooperation, and solidarity, pointing out that through the rules of mutual respect, acceptance of defeat, and celebration of victory that govern the game, it is possible to overcome all social, cultural, and economic barriers and differences between communities and people.
This came in Qatar's statement delivered by First Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Al Suwaidi during a panel on promoting human rights through sports and the Olympic ideal, part of the 56th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
Al Suwaidi said that sports have a great potential to achieve positive results with regard to supporting many of the main sustainable development goals, pointing out that sports effectively contribute to good health, promote noble values and principles, and enhance education quality.
He said that Qatar pays great attention to sports, as reflected in the third National Development Strategy 2024-2030, which aims to create a sporty society with a high standard of living, in fulfilment of the Qatar National Vision 2030, in addition to dedicating a national day for sports, marked on the Tuesday of the second week of February annually.
He added that through a strategic approach to sports, the Qatar Olympic Committee is working on enhancing sports culture and instilling the Olympic spirit in the State of Qatar, in accordance with the Olympic Charter.Al Suwaidi stressed that throughout all of the sports tournaments it hosted, Qatar sought to promote inclusiveness, offering equal opportunity for participation, adding that Qatar is proud of having organized in 2022 the most accessible FIFA World Cup edition for people with disabilities in history, which it did through taking into consideration the needs of people with disabilities in all of the tournament's aspects.
