UN Mission Co-sponsors "Sports Day for Peace" in Haitian Capital

The day started with a 6km run from the Place d’Italie to “Kay Nou”, Viva Rio headquarters, which brought together 200 Haitians and 250 Brazilians aged 16 to 50 years old, including MINUSTAH staff. The race was won by former professional Haitian athlete Jean Baptiste Robert who said he was motivated by “the need to encourage young people to practice sport in order to avoid social disorder.” Other events included volleyball, soccer, judo and track and field.

Viva Rio is a Brazilian NGO which is based in La Saline, one of the poorest and most violent neighbourhoods in the capital, which aims to reduce violence through sport. It organizes a range of social projects supported by MINUSTAH through their Community Violence Reduction (CVR) section such as the recycling and cleaning of plastics, a street cleaning campaign as well as various sporting activities such as soccer leagues for detecting young talent and hosting inter-school footsal championships, a sport derived from football. Other sporting activities organised by the NGO include judo, boxing, volleyball and capoeira.

See photos of the "Sports Day for peace" here.