Friday, January 22nd- Last Day

As today is my final day at the United Nations, I thought it would be appropriate to take a closer look at the last Millennium Development Goal, Creating a Global Partnership for Development. There are a number of ways the UN has reviewed in which result in a world that communicates and collaborates more effectively. The end goal is to help provide for least developed countries by developing better partnerships through trade, agricultural sustainability, medical needs, and educational services.

Although I have mentioned the Olympics before, today I researched more extensively exactly what the Vancouver Olympics (3 weeks away!) have done, and continue to do, to aid in the achievement of this goal. In 1992, the Olympic Committee called on its participating nations to observe the Olympic Truce. Less than one year later the General Assembly of the UN adopted a resolution in which member states declare a truce one week prior and after each Olympic event. The agenda item was passed without vote. Because of their shared vision and goals the United Nations flag has been present at every Olympic event since 1998.

Last October, the UN passed the resolution for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games. The assembly recognized the efforts to use sport as a tool of peace.

As you may remember from the conflict in Georgia that began on the same day the 2008 Beijing Olympics, countries do not always adhere to the resolution.

The ideal of global partnership instituted by the IOC is not solely defined by borders or the countries the athletes represent. One major goal of VANOC is to include the aboriginal population of Western Canada in the festivities. Some of the endeavors being undertaken by VANOC include the Aboriginal Youth Sport Legacy Program, which encourages aboriginal youth to pursue recreational activities like sports. VANOC has also partnered with the Aboriginal Sport Circle, Canada’s largest advocate of aboriginal sport.

VANOC also looks to further tourism revenues for indigenous people of the area, and has additionally created educational programs to educate the youth of this population in an effort to better include them in global partnerships. VANOC heavily emphasizes the importance of art inclusion in its festivities, and has subsequently created numerous cultural development programs through means such as art and dance.

In addition to this display of global partnership, the General Assembly decided to give me a going away present by holding the first meeting of 2010, and therefore the only I was able to attend. The two resolutions on the agenda both concerned Haiti and the effort to relieve and redevelop the nation once the recovery process is able to get a handle on the conditions on the island nation.

The Global Partnership of the United Nations has been evident amid the horrific tragedy that Haiti has faced. Evidence of this is seen by the array of nations who have offered personnel, supplies, and condolences to the country. In today’s General Assembly speaking nations included: Sudan, Uruguay, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka, Australia, and the Holy See just to name a few.

Accompanied by these unifying resolutions was some bickering by a few member states. It began when Nicaragua spoke of the need to ensure that this resolution was not an invitation for foreign militaries to descend on Haiti. The representative proclaimed that Haiti now needed doctors, engineers, and teachers more than it needed foreign troops. Later on, Bolivia seconded the notion and called for foreign nations to forgive any outstanding debt to Haiti (the country currently owes 38 million dollars to the World Bank alone). Bolivia also stated that during the reconstruction process there must not be an overabundance of global interference as reconstruction must be done by Haitians, for Haitians. If this is not ensured than the country will always be reliant on foreign support. Afterwards, the representative from Venezuela accused the United States of using the tragedy as a reason to militarily occupy Haiti.

Before I go any further, I just want to point out that neither Nicaragua nor Bolivia called out any countries in particular when displaying concerns over military and global interference.

Later in the morning, the representative from the United States spoke and called the three countries by name, referring to their statements as “undignified” and “ridiculously misinformed”. He stated that this meeting was not the place for those member states to push their political agendas.

When it came time for replies both Nicaragua and Bolivia defended their remarks. The representative of Nicaragua stated that this was what happened in the 1972 when her country was struck by an earthquake. The representative from Bolivia then questioned the United States as to why in a time when Haiti is short of food and medical supplies the valuable airstrip was being used to funnel over 11,000 United States soldiers onto the island. He then asked if these troops answered to the United Nations mandate or the United States government.

The U.S. representative confirmed that the troops were there as a request of Haitian president, René Preval, and were there to serve humanitarian needs. He never addressed who they answered to.

It was refreshing to hear some of the delegates speak candidly, but also disheartening to hear unnecessary squabbling that in the end will detract from the last MDG. I agree with the concerns of Nicaragua and Bolivia, and wish that the U.S. would have been able to take the constructive criticisms in stride.

Today's General Assembly left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth on my experience at the United Nations. I have learned so much about the inner-working of this organization and specifically its utilization of leisure. Borrowing from Dr. McGann’s presentation yesterday, there are Think-Tanks and there are Do-Tanks. Sadly, the UN Headquarters is only a think-tank, but the many, many NGOs, IGOs, and agencies in developed and developing countries are the do-tanks that fuel the UN. Millennium Development Goals, like global partnership, may be constructed in the Security Council or General Assembly, but the achievement of these goal happens elsewhere.

Thursday, January 21st- Day 14

This was the busiest day that I have seen since beginning my research assistantship at the United Nations. Each day there is a television monitor that lists each meeting for the upcoming day; a split screen was needed today to fit in each meeting being held. The meetings included South-South Cooperation, the Issue of Palestine, the Haiti Humanitarian Crisis, Climate Change, and anything else you can imagine.

The first meeting I attended today was the DPI/NGO Weekly Briefing. The theme of this briefing was “Building Bridges between Cultures: A Closer look a Hinduism.” The varied panel included: Dr. Panchapakesa Jayaraman, Executive Director of Bhavan USA; Dr. Seshagiri Rao, professor of religious studies at UVA; Thomas Uthup Ph.D of the UN Alliance of Civilizations; and Sheetal Shah, director of development of the Hindu American Foundation.

The panel discussed the many stereotypes that Hindus face from the west, and issues that face all Hindus living outside of India. One of the biggest concepts that the panel tried to dispel was the correlation between religious practices in India and politics of India. Interestingly, (and unprovoked I might add) Ms. Shah proclaimed that the sharing of festivals, dances, and other leisure activities have been proven to be the most effective way to spread the truth of Hinduism across the globe. Dr. Rao seconded this by saying he and many other Hindus celebrate Christmas, and he knows of many non-Hindus who celebrate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.

The second meeting I attended was “World Ranking of Think-Tanks” hosted by the United Nations University of New York. James G. McGann, of the University of Pennsylvania, presented on the exhaustive list. McGann is the director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program; essentially a think-tank that rates other think-tanks. The list segregated the organizations by region and major research areas. Areas of importance that went into the ranking of these think-tanks include: new knowledge provided, ability to meet the needs of donors, reputation with policy makers, etc. The biggest point that McGann brought up was that this ranking evaluates what the think-tanks have previously done, it is no indication of their future potential. That concerned me a little bit, as potential donors will undoubtedly look at this list as a basis before making contributions.

But if you’re wondering which Think-Tank came out on top? The Brookings Institution.
Lastly, I went to an OCHA briefing on the situation in Haiti. I was surprised to learn that monetary donations are not really an issue in aiding the crisis in Haiti. OCHA has already received over one billion dollars from world's governments alone. This figure does not include any private or in-kind donations. The problem lies in logistics. Over one thousand flights are scheduled to land in Port-au-Prince, and there is currently a two weeks back log of flights into the country (and this is only the flights approved by MINUSTAH officials.) The bottleneck should be eased in the next few days as a floating dock is being installed in the destroyed port of the capital city.

One area where OCHA is asking governments and member states for more financial help is the cash for work program. In this program, MINUSTAH pays Haitian people to participate in the cleanup of rubble in the country.

I also discovered a new office in the United Nations today. The office of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council. Like a think-tank ranking think-tanks, the UNSRC tries to facilitate social development for those trying facilitate social development. UNSRC is comprised of nearly fifty recreational clubs ranging from skiing to Colombian culture to poetry to Capoeira. It is important that the UN invests in the well-being of its staff by providing these opportunities.

Wednesday, January 20th- Day 13

The joint executive meeting continued today with a focus on the fifth MDG, Ensuring Maternal Heath. The recent events in Haiti have also made delegates specifically concerned over maternal health in times of crisis. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, reminded everyone in attendance this morning that reproductive health care should be fully integrated into any humanitarian response as it is essential to the life and dignity of the affected women.

In addition, a separate health analysis report was released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. This health fact sheet gave a grim report of health standards and capacity in the Gaza Strip, a region suffering from a different type of humanitarian crisis. One story that particularly stuck out was the story of Fidaa Talal Hijjy, a young women being treated for Hodgkin’s disease. She was in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant; however no hospital in the Gaza Strip performed such a procedure. After securing a hospital appointment in Israel, Fidaa submitted an urgent application to cross the Erez checkpoint into Israel for her operation. She received no response and was forced to reschedule her transplant. This happened twice more before Fidaa’s deteriorating health caused her to pass away. Israeli authorities finally approved her pass one day after her death and three days after her latest appointment date.
In both Haiti and the Gaza Strip, UN officials are doing their best to ensure Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is fulfilled:

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

However this has proven to be a challenge, and not just in the aforementioned regions. In 2008, WHO released a report entitled Health and Development Through Physical Activity and Sport. Before I go any further I just want to clarify that although I’m a massive proponent of sport for social development, I am not trying to say leisure cures Hodgkin’s disease or miscarriages. I’m idealistic, but also realistic.

The report did declare that there has been a significant increase in non-communicable diseases, and many underdeveloped countries do not have the resources to tackle the issues of diabetes or high blood pressure. WHO reports that physical inactivity causes nearly two million deaths worldwide each year. I don’t want to get into the U.S. healthcare debate, but WHO also reports that for every one dollar spent on grass root physical activity, $3.20 is saved on healthcare. (note: grass root physical activity, ordering the NFL Network won’t work) In addition, one third of cancers can be prevented by maintaining appropriate weight levels and diets, and simply staying active.

I did find some information relating to the Gaza Strip and how physical activity is incorporated into the lives of the citizens. One excellent program is the Gaza Summer Games, created by the United Nations agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). This initiative attempts to provide recreation opportunities to children aged 6-15 living as refugees in the Gaza Strip. The last Gaza Summer Games feature 500 festivals ranging from theater to sports to the a world-record breaking kite flying festival.

Wilfried Lemke, the UN’s Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Sport and Peace envisions a day when Israel and Palestine can play together in a football match. Mr. Lemke admits that this day is a ways off. Present day, Israeli and Palestinian children are competing together in a different sport altogether, Ultimate Frisbee. The Ultimate Peace Project began in 2008 when a group of Ultimate Frisbee players brought the sport to the middle east. The reason that the program has been a success is likely the design of the activity. Ultimate Frisbee puts a huge emphasis on personal responsibility and teamwork, all the while bridging friendships in a fun and active environment. Also, Ultimate Frisbee was a foreign game to both demographics of children, so put Israeli and Palestinian children were forced to put their emotions aside in order to learn the rules and techniques of the activity.

The WHO report stated that “physical activity helps prevent or control risky behaviors, especially among children and young people, like tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet, or violence.” Which segues me into the other UN body I looked into this afternoon…

United Nations Offices of Drugs and Crime was established in 1997. In short, their mandate is to prevent the spread of illicit drugs and illegal crime. One of the first reports issued by the UNODC was Using Sport for Drug Abuse Prevention. The report details the impact sport has in reducing stress and improving family ties, thereby diminishing the likelihood of drug usage. Individual sports like archery have been proven to develop self-reliance among participants, while extreme sports fill the curiosity and adventure seeking of others. According to the UNODC, the key to managing sport as a tool against drug usage is reminding participants of the negative effects drug can have of the performance of athletes.

This past September, the UNODC organized more than 100 international teenagers to congregate at the Olympic Training Center in Poland to compete and learn social skills that they can take back home to their communities. This initiative was organized in conjunction with the UNODC and Global Sport Fund (through the Qatar Olympic Committee). The partnership believes that keeping teens active and busy will keep them away from drugs or other delinquencies.

Tuesday, January 19th- Day 12

My final week at the UN started off with an address by Ban Ki-moon. He spoke at the international launch of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, authored by UNESCO. The focus of this report is to reach the marginalized youth population who do not have access to education. Achieving universal primary education is the second MDG, and as described by this morning’s panel, the most important. Since the turn of the millennium progress towards this goal is noticeable, but simply not enough. In 1999, 105 million children did not have access to any level of education. Ten years later the number is reduced to 72 million, and if trends continue in the next five years it will be reduced another 16 million, falling 52 million children short of the 2015 goal.

The secretary general has stated that based on the current progress, achieving this goal will be difficult, but not impossible. According to Mr. Ban there are two key areas that must be addressed. The first is organizational donors meeting their international commitments, and the second is providing for the socially marginalized children of the world. Sport and leisure are important puzzle pieces in the efforts to get the progress towards this goal back on track. (Would I be mentioning this report is they weren’t?)

First, is the 1Goal Campaign. The 1Goal Campaign is coordinated by Global Campaign for Education and FIFA, as they attempt to leverage the popularity of the FIFA World Cup to generate awareness, and financial donors, this summer. The campaign asks donors to sign their name for those cannot, and why not use the biggest sporting event of year as a platform? In the months preceding the cup 1Goal will use the popularity of its Goodwill Ambassadors to continually advocate for this cause.

The second way that sport and leisure helps marginalized children is through grass roots programs. I have already mentioned the correlation on this blog and UNESCO has detailed evidence in publications such as the 2003 report: Sport for Development and Peace, but sport and leisure are crucial in the reduction of social marginalization. Sport breaks down the barriers created by religion, gender, caste systems, etc. In 1978, UNESCO released a publication entitled The International Charter of Physical Education and Sport. Article 2 of this charter defined the role that physical education has in the creation of “will-power and self-discipline of every human being as a fully integrated member of society.”

As on cue, upon leaving the launch I heard the voices of protestors from outside the United Nations. Hundreds of Christian Copts had gathered across the street from the UN to call for a respond to the continued attacks on Egyptian Coptics and the Egyptian government’s mild response. In Egypt, this religious sect accounts for only one eighth of the population and is heavily discriminated against. Education rates in Egypt are among the highest in Africa; however in 2001 it was revealed that the textbooks that teach Egyptian children negatively portray Coptic Christians, further marginalizing this population.

Despite the small numbers of this religious following, it was nearly impossible not to see the impact they had today. This is really the key to reaching out to marginalized children; finding a common denominator they will unify all. (Cough, cough, sport and leisure, cough, cough.)
I watched the protestors from inside the secretariat building with one of the UN translators. The translator, Yannika, and I struck up a conversation about the likely struggle of Christian Coptics in Egypt, neither of us were aware of their plight beforehand so we could only speculate. However, Yannika told me her story of how growing up in the Bahamas she dreamed of working for the United Nations. She talked about how important it was for her to stay focused on education, and even mentioned to me that she is getting ready to pursue her Ph.D. It made me wonder how many of those 72 million children living without education in less developed nations have the potential to work in the UN, if only they had the access to education.

Something else that I wanted to research today was the relationship between the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and leisure. To this point I have not been able to find a connection between sport and leisure and part of the first MDG: eradicating hunger.

In March of 2009, the FAO hosted “Football Against Hunger Weekend” over 200 European Football Clubs participated, with the funds raised going directly to fight world hunger. The FAO has now partnered UEFA and CAF to host events like this in the future. The following quote is from the Director-General of FAO Jacques Diouf after signing a cooperation agreement with CAF.

“FAO has always set great store by the power of sport in general, and professional football in particular, as a tool for peace and development and a means to mobilise political will and resources in the fight against global hunger.”

Ok, so sport can raise awareness for hunger, but that’s about it. I mean you can’t physically feed people through a leisure activity right?

Wrong.

Whether or not you may consider it a sport, recreational fishing is without a doubt a leisure activity. The FAO conducted a study in 1990s entitled Utilization of Small Water Bodies, Botswana. The study explored the growth of fishing as a source of both leisure and hunger prevention in the landlocked African country. When this study was conducted fishing was relatively unheard of in Botswana. Half the population in the studied areas lists the unavailability of fish for sale as a reason why they do not eat fish. The second most common reason was that households do not know how to fish and/or do not have time to learn.

The report explains that the communities could benefit by charging reasonable leisure fishing permits (and the funds could be used towards education), which would also maintain the population of fish. In addition, the households would have a sustainable source of food. Considering 80% of the fish consumed among study participants was tinned, this softens their reliance on world trade.

As cliché as it is, the saying, “teach a man to fish he’ll eat for a day, teach a man how to fish he’ll eat for a lifetime”, comes to mind here.

Friday, January 15th- Day 11

This morning was the first meeting of the year between the joint executive boards of the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Food Programme. The theme of the meeting was discussing the “Delivering as One” model in an effort to strengthen unified responses between all country level offices in relations to gender-based violence.

There were a number of panelists who spoke on behalf of their respective agencies. Africa and Asia are the hotspots for gender-based violence, so a large emphasis was put on implementation and progress in these areas. One speaker that especially interested me was Bruce Campbell of the UNFPA in Viet Nam. Mr. Campbell outlined the issues in Viet Nam thoroughly, highlighting concerns that had never crossed my mind until this meeting. Overall the MDG’s have been extremely successful in this area of the world, but a closer look reveals large groups of marginalized people who are still in need of aid. It is expected that during the year Viet Nam will cross the threshold and meet the requirements to be considered a "developing country" rather than underdeveloped. The problem caused by the increased middleclass and entry of Viet Nam to the WTO is the subsequent reduction in assistance to government agencies and NGOs in the country. Without careful monitoring, the quality of life in the country could easily deteriorate.

As part of the Delivering as One campaign the UNFPA in Viet Nam works closely with numerous Vietnamese program management units. One that surprised me was the Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism. At first I did not understand how this unit aided in combating gender violence. However, after contacting Mr. Campbell and the UNFPA office I learned that even before teaming with UNFPA, the Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism had its own program to focus on gender and domestic violence protection. The ministry is actually state mandated in the area of Family and Domestic Violence Protection, are therefor organizes community events in an advocacy effort to fight gender and domestic violence.

It seems to me that advocacy is the largest role that sport and leisure play in combating gender-based violence and empowering women. UNIFEM, the UN agency for promote women’s rights, works closely with many organizations and conferences who routinely meet to promote the rights of women in and through sport. The International Working Group for Women and Sport, is the largest of these group. They are currently organizing the 5th IWG World Conference of Women and Sport in Sydney, Australia this May. One of the main goals of the conference is to strengthen the development of women and sport in the Oceania region.

Another foundation for the empowerment of women of sport was started by women’s tennis champion, Billie Jean King, in 1974. The Women’s Sport Foundation actively campaigns to provide opportunity at all levels for women and girls. Their national campaign, GoGirlGo! allocates money to various female organizations in cities across the United States.

The issues that women and sport foundations focus on range from the amount of media coverage given to womens sport to alternative ways to use sport to promote gender equality and teaching self defense.

In 2005, Women Without Borders conducted a research study that revealed three times as many women perished in the floods of the 2004 tsunami in Southern Asian. This was due to the fact that many women in this area of the world did not know how to swim and/or did not have the physical ability to climb safely onto rooftops. This study resulted in the creation of the Women Swimming into the Future Campaign. The Austrian Ministry of Sport provided instructors and the group secured a pool in Chennai, India. Within ten days instructors saw vast improvement in self-confidence of the female participants, as they realized how capable they were at learning a new skill.

The biggest problem faced by the swimming program was attire. Eventually, Women Swimming into the Future secured appropriate clothing so as not to disrespect the culture of the participating women. (As a side note, Nike and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights are working together to design comfortable sporting equipment that abides by dress codes in assorted areas of the planet.)

Women Swimming into the Future was not the only program I discovered to address traumatic events faced by women through sport. In Cambodia, the sport of Women’s Wheelchair Racing has taken off. Many of the participants have lost limbs due to leftover landmines from the years of violence in the region. The activity for Cambodian women with disabilities has increased the self-confidence of participants. What started as a form of therapeutic recreation, has now evolved into a sport that can be used as platform to raise awareness on other issues like HIV/AISS that concern the Cambodian community.

A report released by the European Women and Sport states that physical activity is the key to overcoming trauma. Reports a woman in charge of refugee sport program in Kenya, “…sewing and knitting is detrimental. As these women sit quietly and knit they remember the horrors they have seen as a refugee.”

The last thing I want to mention today is a documentary I learned about that I want to check out. The film is called Thin Ice. It is about a women’s ice hockey team in the Himalayan region of India. Due to the resistance of the men in the area, the team could not find enough players to participate in any events. So the team (consisting of Buddhist women) enlists female participants of a nearby Muslim community. This is another, albeit less-known, example of sport crossing religious boundaries.

Thursday, January 14th- Day 10

Dr. Fain, the World Leisure Liaison to the United Nations suggested today that I put my picture up on the blog. That’s probably a good idea considering yesterday UNICEF passed around handouts listing the governmental organizations and NGOs in attendance at the Executive Board Meeting. According to the sheet, ‘Ms.’ Tammen Nicholson was in attendance. I realize the gender of my name can be confusing and I hate to contradict UNICEF, but I’m male.

Ok, now that that’s settled, this morning the DPI/NGO screened a film entitled, “The End of Poverty?” I highly recommend checking out the film, and if you’re in the New York City area, it will be showing in the upcoming weeks. The documentary is definitely not a heart-warming story. Don’t expect a happy ending, but in actuality the end has not been written. Much can be done around the world to eliminate impoverished nations.

The basis of the film is actually not what I had expected. It does not by any means blame overpopulation for world poverty, instead blames the greed caused by colonial times and the continued greed brought upon by globalization. The main question asked by the documentary is how come the areas of the planet with the most natural resources cannot provide for its citizens? One reason is the unbalanced world trade market as overseas companies enter underdeveloped countries and privatize resources that had long been considered public.

The most extreme case of this happened about a decade ago when the World Bank forced the country of Bolivia to privatize water or else they would not receive aid assistance. The U.S. Bechtel Corporation was granted a 40 year lease, and within months water rates in Bolivia skyrocketed to the point where Bolivian citizens could not afford this necessity. A new law was instituted that required citizens to obtain a permit to collect rainwater, therefore even privatizing rainwater. The worst part is that all the collected money that was siphoned from the Bolivian people didn’t go towards the Bolivian government, but an overseas corporation with little interest in the well-being of the effected population. The citizens of the area soon took to the streets and rioting broke out. Within months Bechtel was thrown out of Bolivia. Sadly, this is not the usual outcome in cases like this. For instance Bechtel is now operating in Ecuador.

This case study among other formulate the film's argument that poverty is a man-made phenomenon. As is the theory that poverty leads to crime. Poverty does not lead to crime, economic disparity does. Don’t believe this? Research the “underdeveloped” nation of Bhutan, where the kingdom’s efficiency is not measured by Gross Domestic Product, but rather Gross National Happiness.

The biggest oversight in the film was the lack of potential options. The movie displays vividly modern-day humanitarian concerns in the southern hemisphere, yet does not highlight programs to combat this trend. The film producer explained this by saying it is up to the viewer to decide what they can do to fight world poverty.

I’m actually surprised that it took me this long to mention one program that uses sport to directly combat homelessness. Over this summer I worked with Street Soccer USA, the United States arm of the Homeless World Cup. The HWC is funded by UEFA, FIFA, Nike, and other generous donors with the mission that “a ball can change the world”. Over fifty nations have formed teams, or even entire leagues, that provide training and education along with the a chance to participate in sport. Each year, all countries are invited to bring a team to compete in the HWC and help to globally raise awareness for the one billion homeless citizens across the world.

Having shelter is not just a basic human need. In many parts of the world it is the only way to climb out of poverty; those who have land and shelter are able to farm or raise livestock and regain the ability to sustain their families. Even in urban areas, shelter demarginalizes individuals and aids them in reintegrating to society.

Even the activity dubbed ‘the most dangerous race in the world’ contributes to providing shelter for those in need. The Dakar Rally has partnered with Un Techo Para mi Pais (A Roof for my County) in Chile and Argentina. Un Techo Para mi Pais is basically South America’s version of Habitat for Humanity. The Dakar Rally raised funds to build eighty new homes while drawing attention this NGO and their 2010 goal to eradicate the slums of Chile.

Something else I wanted to research today was the United Nations effort to use sport and leisure to benefit older adults. In developed countries the population age has shifted as many are seeing longer life spans. This, coupled with smaller families, has resulted in an age demographic susceptible to social exclusion. In 2002, the UN held the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, to tackle this issue head on. One direct result of this resolution was the United Nations Programme on Ageing.

Some national and global events include the World Masters Games and the Senior Games. Next week will kick off the World Winter Master Games in Bled, Slovenia. Participates can sign up as long as they meet the minimum age requirement (there is no maximum) and note whether they are competing seriously or socially. The social aspect is just as important as the competition, and the World Masters Games numerous social activities planned for their participants help facilitate a communal feeling.

The National Senior Games are a bit more competitive. Each state in the US has developed its own program with events ranging from bocce ball to track and field. All participants over fifty years of age are welcome to compete, and the 2009 national games drew 12,750 athletes from across the US. The Massachusetts Senior Games is actually organized through Springfield College, so in a complete display of favoritism, here's the link.

In the area of leisure, perhaps no area of the world provides better resources for older adults than Hong Kong. Retirement and leisure invoke similiar images, so it is understandable why the Hong Kong Sport Institute would allocate so much research on their “Sport for All” program geared towards older adults. The Healthy Elderly Scheme has undertaken a free leisure project for those over age 60. Program include the conventional like arts and crafts and tai chi to billiards, cycling, and dance. They have also begun to entrust these participants with the honor of becoming ‘elderly ambassadors’ and acting as coaches to pass on their wisdom of sport. It’s interesting to see that in some areas of the world rainwater has been privatized, yet in other areas leisure remains a public commodity.

Wednesday, January 13- Day 9

The mood today at the United Nations was pretty somber. I imagine this is consistent with the day after any natural disaster or man-made tragedy. However, I can’t help but think that the situation in Haiti is different than usual. As most of you know, yesterday evening a major earthquake hit the already troubled nation. Much of the infrastructure of the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince has been destroyed. The communication is so bad that the public did not find out until this afternoon, 18 hours after the earthquake, whether or not the prime minister had survived. Depending on which report you read, the presidential palace has either been “damaged” or “destroyed”.

What you may not realize is the earthquake has also crippled MINUSTAH, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. The MINUSTAH headquarters is located in Haiti’s Hotel Christopher, which was completely destroyed with an estimated 50 to 100 UN employees inside. It seemed that everyone I spoke to knew someone working with MINUSTAH who they have not yet heard from, even the Special Representative appointed by the Secretary General has not been heard from yet.

Besides the obvious personal interest among United Nations staff and delegates, there remains the pressing humanitarian issue. The people of the country need fresh water, food, and immediate medical personal. However, the main port has been destroyed and though the airport runways remain intact, the air traffic control tower is wrecked. I overheard a report today that emergency flights cannot enter the country during the night hours; it is too hazardous to land without proper lighting or any air traffic assistance. Normally during a situation like this, MINUSTAH steps in to assist the fragile government. Thankfully the military leg of MINUSTAH is still intact, however there is very little MINUSTAH officials available to lead the effort.

A little background on MINUSTAH. They were created by the United Nations in 2004 to help stabilize the civil unrest in Haiti. The mission of MINUSTAH is to help promote peace in a variety of different ways. Sport and leisure are crucial parts of their task. In fact, the upcoming Match for Peace I mentioned on Monday was held in Port-au-Prince in 2004. MINUSTAH works closely with Caravone de la Paix, to use cultural celebrations and concerts as well as sport to promote peace. For the foreseeable future, the focus of MINUSTAH will be providing food, water, shelter, and first aid.

I returned to the UNICEF executive board meeting, and like I promised yesterday, have obtained information on efforts to combat child labor. Any children under the age of 14 working full time or completing over 40 hours worth of home chores is considered child labor. Child labor is of utmost concern in India where child labor exists in rural areas including Uttar Pradesh, the heart of the countries carpet industry. These children, known as child carpet slaves, are used predominately due to the theory that their small fingers create better carpets.

UNICEF is combating this trend in a few different ways. Many children choose work over education because their family cannot afford to send the children to school. UNICEF has developed programs help combat this issue. These programs, such as accelerated educational programs and education that allow children to continue to work partially, have already been implemented. In addition, UNICEF teaches families how to start savings accounts to better prepare them for the future. These programs were met with much resistance at first, however families have begun to realize the importance of the issue; thereby helping to fulfill the Millennium Development Goals.

At the end of 2009, child labor in Uttar Pradesh was 32%, however the tourism rich areas in India like Goa and Kerala only faced 3% child labor. The growth of the leisure and tourism industries has created economic and social reforms in these areas. In addition, they have brought in additional revenue and created higher wages for adults eliminating the need for most families to ask their children to work.

Another important issue discussed was Human Trafficking. The United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human-Trafficking (UN-GIFT) has actually released information detailing how a certain sport can actually cause human trafficking. The country of Bangladesh reports that over 7,000 boys were smuggled from the country during the 1990s. A majority of these boys were taken to the United Arab Emirates, to serve the dangerous profession of camel jockey. Despite legislation that required jockeys to be over the age of fifteen and over one-hundred pounds, children as young as four were racing until the early 2000s. Since this time the UAE as begun the Camel Jockey Repatriation Program, returning young boys to their country of origin and reintegrating them into society. The program has return over 1,000 children already and continues to repatriate more each year.

Leisure plays an important role in the reintegration process. I’ve detailed in a few of my past posts how recreation improves social skills, but Kolkata Sanvel in India uses an interesting and unique activity: dance. The successful program operates under the belief that “body movement could become a powerful tool for rehabilitation and advocacy. It transforms victims of sexual abuse from ‘rehabilitative victims’ to ‘proactive advocates’.” Kolkata Sanved is not necessarily gender specific, yet has developed a niche among female victims of sexual abuse. Dance has proven to be a successful catalyst in empowering women and girls and creating a positive body image. Like many other successful social sport programs, counseling is an integral part of this success.

Later in the day I met with Amy Farkas, the Sport for Development coordinator of UNICEF. We discussed the numerous (emphasis on numerous) programs she works closely with. Currently, her largest project relates directly to the African Cup of Nations. An Angolan NGO has development a program of activities and festivals to coincide with the football tournament in an effort to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS preventive measures in the country. Amy said that one of the most important details in planning sport for development programs is making them country, or even state, specific. Broad programs do not work as effectively as concentrated and specific sport programs. For instance, the THINKWISE cricket program I mentioned yesterday would not apply to Latin American countries where cricket is not popular.

Inevitably, our conversation turned to Haiti. Due to the ongoing UNICEF efforts, I asked Amy how soon, if at all, a program like the one in Bam, Iran would be brought to Haiti. Again she reiterated that each program must be country specific, therefore the Bam earthquake program could not be duplicated in Haiti and achieve the same results. After the emergency response individuals help restore the infrastructure of the country, sport development programs can then be implemented to help rebuild the community from a social aspect.

After our meeting, I returned to the Security Council to watch former president and Special Envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, seemingly restate Amy’s remark. He poignantly stated that logistically the ONLY things needed in Haiti are the basic essentials: food, water, shelter, and first aid. With MINUSTAH in a crippled state there is no capacity to handle anything else. The United Nations has already allotted 10 million dollars towards the search and rescue campaign, and other countries like Brazil have announced plans to donate similar amounts. This, sadly, is only a drop in the bucket of what will be needed rebuild the shattered communities of Haiti.