A historic Letter of Intent (LOI) has been signed at the Palais des Nations in Geneva between diplomatic sports movement Football for Peace and the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP). It was signed on 14th December 2016.
This means that the UN will effectively offer their support to all Football for Peace Matches and City for Peace Projects moving forward. In October 2015, Prince William participated in a Football for Peace 'City for Peace' Projectin Birmingham. Earlier this year, Kashif Siddiqi opened the Sport & Humanity Conference at the Vatican.
Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the United Nations General Secretary, counter-signed the agreement on behalf of the UN.
Signatories for Football for Peace included Co-Founder and Muslim British Pakistani Footballer Kashif Siddiqi and the CEO of Football for Peace, Jayraj Jadeja.
Siddiqi says: "Football moves a lot faster than politics. Our peace efforts are just like playing on the pitch. If you don't pass the ball to your teammates, you can't move forward. Having the support of Global leaders and Organisations such as Mr Lemke and the UNOSDP is like having World Class players in the team, it becomes easier more effective when trying to spread our organisations message across the Globe"
He adds: "It's a truly great honor to work with the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace. Mr. Lemke has been incredibly supportive of my vision and both organisations share similar values".
Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the United Nations General Secretary says: ""By impacting directly to communities on the ground, the UNOSDP Youth Leadership Programme (YLP) and "Football for Peace" share common values".
With the agreement in place, UNOSDP and FFP intend to share their expertise concerning the area of sport for development and peace, in particular around the use of football as an effective delivery mechanism to promote peace, tolerance, and respect regardless of ethnic, cultural, religious differences.
FFP holds football peace matches bringing together current and ex-professional footballers and royal patronage to play in friendly matches in order to create dialogue, unite people from different backgrounds and build awareness by working at every level from government to community.
