UNESCO charter of sport ready for adoption

Less than two years after the MINEPS V meeting in Berlin, where sports ministers, ministerial staff and non-governmental organisations from more than 125 countries agreed to address a number of challenges faced by sport, UNESCO has now released the final draft for a revised International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport, ready for presentation and adoption at the UNESCO General Conference in November.

Since UNESCO started drafting a revised version, international experts, political representatives and other stakeholders in sport - including Play the Game - have met a number of times in order to discuss the content of such an updated document.

All ministers responsible for relations with UNESCO have had the opportunity to comment on the draft and their comments have been incorporated in this final draft.

The document is now called the 'International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport' and its main aim is to establish the access to sport as a fundamental human right. The revised charter also reflects governments’ growing engagement in sport as well as a general decrease in physical activity since 1978 when the first international charter of sport was adopted. Read more about the content of the revised document

Editorial note: Play the Game and the Danish Institute for Sports Studies have been involved in editing the draft charter on various occasions during 2014, giving consultancy free of charge, and have been invited to continue to do so in the process ahead.