PRESS CONFERENCE on global sport fund of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Qatar is increasing its contribution to the Global Sport Fund of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to $10 million, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of UNODC, announced today at a Headquarters news conference.

The press conference was called to present the first-ever UNODC Certificate of Honour and the Global Sports Fund Award to Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani, Crown Prince of Qatar.  It also featured the signing of the project agreement between UNODC and the Government of Qatar, and the presentation of an award by the Qatar Olympic Committee to UNODC in recognition of the partnership between them.

Mr. Costa told correspondents that Qatar had previously committed $2.5 million to the Fund in 2005, and that the award to the Crown Prince was in recognition of what he and Qatar had done to assist young people to achieve their full potential.  Children were too often derailed by drugs, crime, violence and conflict, and it was to address that challenge that UNODC, in 2002, decided to launch a sport fund.

The Fund was used to organize camps for a small number of children from different parts of the world, particularly those affected by conflict, he continued.  It enabled them to mix in teams and play sports, but it had remained a very small operation until the Crown Prince provided the funding for it to be launched as a global operation, based in the Olympic Committee of Qatar.  Since then, it had set in motion a number of important initiatives, the last one being in Lebanon six weeks ago, when 100 kids between the ages of 14 and 18 from the Middle East region, including 20 girls, had participated in a sport camp.

Mr. Costa said that UNODC was building on the experience it had gathered and was developing new camps.  In 2008, it hoped to have one camp in West Africa to enable children affected by conflict there to start playing football and basketball together and, through that, to develop new friendships and better self-esteem.  Self-esteem was the best deterrent to drugs and crime.  UNODC was also thinking about camps in the former Yugoslavia.

In his statement, the Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who received the award on behalf of the Crown Prince, said that the creation of the Global Sport Fund was inspired by the success achieved by UNODC and the Qatar Olympic Committee in organizing a Football Without Borders camp in Doha in 2003.  That event brought together young people from Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait, with the aim of promoting peace, security and a healthy lifestyle among the youth of the region.

He noted that drug use was a growing problem throughout the world, and that the Sport Fund targeted young people at the age when the temptation to experiment with illegal drugs was high.  The main purpose was to promote sports activity among young people and to prevent drug use and crime worldwide.  The partnership between UNODC and Qatar was a good example of what the international community, regional groups, national groups and the private sector could achieve when they worked together for the benefit of children who needed extra attention.

Qatar’s leaders had the visionary idea of bringing the world together through sport, he continued.  In that regard, the country hosted an average of 12 major sports events each year, including the last Asian Games, which it hosted last year, with 45 countries and about 12,000 athletes participating.

In response to a question, Mr. Costa said that, in the past, UNODC had organized one camp each year, but that number was later increased to twice a year, with about 100 kids participating.  The focus had been on football, but with the new funding, the number of camps would be further expanded and more sports accommodated.  In a recent meeting dealing with child soldiers in Cote d’Ivoire, UNODC had brought on board one of the foremost basketball players, Mr. Blackman, and it planned to ask Mr. Blackman to organize a camp there.  The larger endowment would help to make such activities possible, with a larger number of kids participating in a larger number of theatres.

He added that UNODC aimed to have the Fund cover all regions of the world.  It was branching out to South Africa, West Africa, Brazil and Asia, and there were no geographical restrictions in the coverage.  There was also a programme to support non-governmental organizations involved in the same objective as the Global Sport Fund.  That programme would also cover all regions.

On the impact of the programme, Mr. Costa said that, based on what had been reported by participants in previous camps, it had been learned that the events did change the lives of the children.  Those who took part were branded in a positive way for the rest of their lives, and the camps changed their outlooks.

Shekh Al-Thani added that, when participants went back to their various schools and communities, their experiences had a multiplier effect, as they passed on what they had learned to their friends and families.

Mr. Costa stated that participants in the camps were children between the ages of 12 and 16 and were mostly from underprivileged families, such as those from refugee camps.

In response to a question, Sheikh Al-Thani said that Dutch football player Ronald de Boer had been present at the Football Without Borders camp in Qatar in 2003.  Each time such camps were organized, a sport star was brought in that the children could look up to.

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