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CT marathon gets UN nod

Cape Town -The United National’s special advisor on sport for development and peace, Wilfried Lemke, has officially endorsed the first Cape Town peace conference and expo, being organised by the Foundation for Sport, Development and Peace in association with the Sanlam Cape Town marathon.


The conference and expo takes place at the Waterfront on 19 September.

The ambassador for the Sanlam Cape Town marathon and Olympian long-distance medallist Elana Meyer, who will be one of the speakers at the conference said: “Since we’re celebrating 20 years as a peaceful democracy and because we’ve witnessed the power of sport to bring previously divided people together, we felt it opportune to not only align the marathon with such a focus but also to jointly hold such a conference.”

The purpose of the Cape Town PEACE Conference and Expo is to create a forum that brings together various stakeholders to discuss how sport can be used as a vehicle to build peaceful communities.

In addition, the initiative puts a strong focus on empowering young people by co-operating with schools, non-governmental organisations and federations to make youth part of other sports and peace-related initiatives, especially in the developing world.

One of the chosen beneficiaries for this year’s marathon is Peace and Sport (L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport), a global initiative under the patronage of Prince Albert of Monaco that uses sport to educate young people affected by extreme poverty, recent conflict or a lack of social cohesion.

Lemke said: “The UN considers sport to be a powerful tool to promote education, health, development and peace. Sport unites people of all social classes, cultures, religions and backgrounds in a positive and educational way.”


 

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