Featured events


7-9 September 2012
Brussels Games
Brussels

Brussels Gay Sports will offer a weekend of fun and fairplay in the capital of Europe, with volleyball, swimming, badminton, and tennis, as well as fitness and hiking.

Learn more HERE.
26-28 October 2012
QueergamesBern
Bern, Switzerland

The success of the first edition of the QueergamesBern proved the need for an LGBT multisport event in Switzerland. This year will be even bigger, with badminton, bowling, running, walking, floorball.

Learn more HERE.
17-20 January 2013
Sin City Shootout
Las Vegas
The 7th Sin City Shootout will feature softball, ice hockey, tennis, wrestling, basketball, dodgeball, bodybuilding and basketball.

Learn more HERE.

13-16 June 2013
IGLFA Euro Cup
Dublin
After this year's edition in Budapest at the EuroGames, the IGLFA Euro Cup heads to Dublin for 2013, hosted by the Dublin Devils and the Dublin Phoenix Tigers.

Learn more HERE.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace wins UNESCO human rights award

Berlin (UNOSDP) – Wilfried Lemke, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, tonight was awarded the 2011 ‘Berliner Friedensuhr’ (‘Berlin Peace Clock’) by the Berlin committee for UNESCO.

Mr. Lemke was honoured on behalf of the UN for his unwavering commitment at the service of the world organization to mobilizing the power of sport to bring about international understanding and integration, and to combat poverty.

At a ceremony held in the atrium of the Deutsche Bank in Berlin, Germany’s State Minister for Culture and the Media Bernd Neumann praised the achievements of the recipient, declaring: "Wilfried Lemke stands for reliable action and continuity, but above all humanity. Away from difficult decisions, he never shrank, proving time and again his ability to resolve conflicts and build bridges."

In front of an audience of more than 200 prominent figures from politics, sport, the private sector, and civil society, Mr. Lemke praised the United Nations for mainstreaming sport in its policies and programmes as an important element contributing to the work and objectives of the organization, in particular the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"Receiving this award on behalf of the United Nations is a great honor for my Office and for me personally. It will give us an extra motivation to keep using sport as a tool for positive change all over the world," an enthusiastic Lemke declared. “Using sport is especially important in situations where traditional political means have reached their limits."

In a message read out at the event, the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Ms. Irina Bokova, commended the leadership of the Special Adviser and the UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), since its inception in 2001, in using sport to convey peace and development messages, especially towards young audiences. "Mr. Lemke has worked tirelessly to facilitate the social impact of sports on human development," she noted.

Since 2003, the Berlin Peace Clock has been presented as an award from the Berlin Committee for UNESCO on the basis of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights to individuals or institutions who "help to overcome barriers between races, classes, peoples, nations, cultures, ideologies, religions, political parties and individuals."

Previous recipients of the Berlin Peace Clock include numerous leading figures in world politics, world religions and world ethics including: Michael Gorbachev (1992), Ronald Reagan and Helmut Kohl (1992), Mother Teresa (1993), Professor Avi Primor, former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, for his commitment to bringing peace to the Middle East (2003), and more recently to Mr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher for his dedication to strengthening the United Nations and his commitment to the universal respect of human rights (2009).

This year, by presenting the Peace Clock to the UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, the Berlin Committee for UNESCO acknowledges and pays tribute to the powerful role sport can play in breaking down barriers and contributing to a more peaceful world.

The Berlin Peace Clock was originally created by Berlin jeweler Jens Lorenz and first set in motion the day the Berlin wall fell, on 9 November 1989.

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