Statement by Joël Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport

PROTECTING EDUCATION THROUGH SPORT TO PROTECT CHILDREN’S FUTURE

On this International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, we are reminded that peace is not an abstract ideal shaped only in diplomatic rooms or international agreements. It is built every day in schools and on the field of play.

Today, 273 million children around the world are out of school*. This is not only an education crisis; it is a challenge to peace. When access to education and structured activities is disrupted, what is lost is not only knowledge, but also the very foundations of peaceful coexistence.

Education is where peace begins. When intentionally used as an educational tool, sport is not separate from education. It becomes a practical, lived classroom where values are experienced, not just taught. Through sport, children learn to follow rules, respect others, manage emotions, and work toward shared goals.

When a child steps onto a safe and inclusive playing field, the equity of sport becomes a shared language.

Teamwork replaces mistrust. Dialogue replaces conflict.

These are spaces of micro-peace: local and sometimes fragile, yet deeply transformative. When these spaces multiply, they create ripple effects that extend far beyond the playing field: into families, schools, and communities. This is how peace takes root and grows.

This does not happen by chance: it requires commitment, investment, and above all, collective action.

Governments, sport organizations, Champions for Peace, civil society, and the private sector each have a role to play in ensuring that every child has access to safe and inclusive sport. Because every child excluded from these opportunities represents a missed chance to build peace.

When we raise the #WhiteCard on the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, we are not only making a symbolic gesture. We are making a commitment.

A commitment to protect children’s rights. A commitment to build peace from its origins, at the heart of our communities, and in the lives of every child.

For them, raise your #WhiteCard.

* Source: UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2026

 

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