Prince Feisal addresses closing ceremony of United Through Sports Conference

Prince Feisal speaks in his capacity as chair of the International Olympic Committee

By JT - May 12,2019 - Last updated at May 12,2019

AMMAN — HRH Prince Feisal on Friday addressed the closing ceremony of the United Through Sports Conference in Gold Coast, Australia, as honoured guest speaker, shedding light on the problem of abuse in sports.

Prince Feisal spoke in his capacity as the chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Prevention of Harassment and Abuse in Sport Working Group, and addressed the importance of safe sport initiatives, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee website.

“In the past few years, sexual harassment and abuse has become a mainstream discussion in wider society. The Me Too movement has lent a voice to millions and empowered people to stand together. We know through evidence and testimony that harassment and abuse occur in all sports, worldwide,” he said.

This is not a reflection of sport, but of society and sport is often a microcosm of society.

“As one of the fundamental principles of Olympism is to recognise that the practice of safe sport is a human right, we must do everything we can to ensure this topic is at the top of our agenda in the Olympic Movement. Considerable progress has been made in this area in recent years, notably the establishment of an IOC toolkit for international federations and national Olympic committees. However, there is much more that we can do to protect athletes at both a grassroots and elite level and this must remain our priority.”

The United Through Sports initiative was established in 2017 by the Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport, with the aim of using sport to make a difference to the lives of children all over the world. It looks to use sport to bring unity and peace to an often-divided world and is supported by a number of organisations, including the IOC.

Earlier this week, Prince Feisal was welcomed to speak at the conference’s opening ceremony in his capacity as Founder and Chairman of peace-building NGO, Generations For Peace, due to the parallels between the values of the two organisations.

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