116 countries agree on new international action plan

UNESCO’s sixth international governmental conference on physical education and sport, MINEPS VI, showed broad support for a new action plan aiming at strengthening sport and physical education.

With an ambition to strengthen sport’s integrity, inclusivity, and its contribution to the UN goals for sustainable development, 116 member countries of the UNESCO endorsed the ‘Kazan Action Plan’ at the end of the sixth International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport, MINEPS VI.

The action plan, which is named after the host city of the conference, Kazan in Russia, encourages the countries to acknowledge 20 political goals grouped in three main policy areas:

Developing a comprehensive vision of inclusive access for all to sport, physical education and physical activity
Maximising the contributions of sport to sustainable development and peace
Protecting the integrity of sport

Among the specific political goals are the enforcement of gender equality, the fostering of inclusive participation and the establishment of multi-stakeholder partnerships. Moreover, the action plan links sport and physical education to the UN Agenda 2030 on sustainable development goals by pointing at how sport can contribute to improved health and well-being, city environments, safe and inclusive societies, and other sustainability factors.

Finally, the Kazan Action Plan lists five political goals on the integrity of sport: It highlights the need to ensure and strengthen the combat against doping and match-fixing, and to foster good governance among sports organisation. Moreover, it establishes the responsibility of governments to safeguard athletes, spectators and workers as well as to protect children, youth and other vulnerable groups.

A last-minute Russian attempt to establish it as a right for all athletes to refuse to compete under the neutral flag didn't succeed.

The President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexandr Zhukov, argued that it was unfair that young Russian athletes had to participate under a neutral flag in international athletics competitions after the international athletics federation, IAAF, suspended the Russian athletics federation due to systematic doping use in Russian sport.