Gulf Times
The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), together with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), and the UN Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC), delivered technical assistance to the Maldives on the security of major sporting events and the use of sport to promote inter-cultural dialogue, peace and resilience.
Hosted in Male by the Maldives government, the technical assistance was provided from October 10-13 as a part of a programme that started in August this year.
The programme aims at strengthening capacities to protect sports events from different security threats and using sport for the promotion of peace and resilience within society and comes also in view of the organisation of the International Swimming in Open Sea Championship and the Indian Ocean Games that the Maldives will host in 2023 and 2025, respectively.
The four-day programme, led by the UNOCT, brought together experts from the ICSS and the other UN partners, along with representatives from the National Sports Council at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Community Empowerment National Counter Terrorism Centre of the Maldives.
The assistance was provided within the framework of the multi-year Global Programme on the Security Major Sporting Events, and Promotion of Sport and Its Values as a Tool to Prevent Violent Extremism (Global Sports Programme), an initiative made possible by the generous support of Qatar, China and South Korea.
The assistance provided in Male included a series of theoretical content, training, and practical simulations of real-life scenarios to help participants understand in greater depth the importance of security planning and prevention, as well as investment in preparation for potential threats.
Participants improved their ability to identify challenges in major events security, use the values of sport to promote peace and resilience in their own work environment, as well as their understanding of enforcement of mitigation measures to manage incidents towards a lasting legacy.
ICSS chief executive Massimiliano Montanari said: “Sport has suffered tremendously this year across continents, some of the darkest months we have ever seen.”
“The wave of gang violence that invaded football matches in Mexico and Argentina, victims of the crush outside a stadium during African Cup in Cameroon, and the recent 174 people killed and 180 injured in Indonesia,” he said. “And the list is long.”
“Our Global Programme is an effort to prevent future tragedies and give sport back to families and peaceful supporters,” Montanari added. “In this regard, the co-operation with sporting events host authorities and governments from countries of any size and at all latitudes is essential to achieve such a goal.”