“From competition to co-operation: the power of sport as a tool for development and inclusion” was the theme of the 2025 edition of the North-South Dialogues. Organised by the Council of Europe’s North-South Centre (NSC) in co-operation with the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS), a roundtable on this topic was held on 21 May in hybrid format (Strasbourg, France and online).
Inspired by the work of the 2024 North-South Prize laureates – Miguel Ángel Moratinos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General holding the post of High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), and the initiative enabling refugees to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games (led by the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic Refuge Foundation and the International Paralympic Committee) –, the Dialogues focused on values-based sport as a tool for development and on inclusion in and through sport, in particular of vulnerable groups including migrants and refugees.
“The award of the North-South Prize to the refugee team at the Olympic and Paralympic Games underlines the role of sport in development and inclusion. It also aims to challenge stereotypes about refugees by highlighting their talents and resilience. EPAS will continue to advance sport policies, as instrumental societal lever and driver of inclusion,” said Solène Charuau, Chair of EPAS.
The event brought together athletes and representatives of institutions and organisations working in the sport field. The discussions highlighted the transformative power of sport in promoting education, inclusion and integrity, while also addressing urgent human rights challenges in sport and examining the legal frameworks designed to overcome them.
In this context, the NSC has developed, in co-operation with EPAS, a new training course that will equip young people with knowledge and skills to recognise and respond to integrity challenges in sport, while ensuring that sport remains a space where human rights are respected and protected. This online training course on values-based sport and sport integrity, aimed at young people between 18-30 years old, was developed in the framework of the Human Rights Education for Youth (HEY) programme and will be made available to the public in due course.
The NSC and EPAS are also carrying out a joint awareness-raising action addressing human rights in and through sport. #AlwaysHumanRights serves as a framework to disseminate initiatives, standards, resources and opportunities, while recalling that human rights are always a dimension of sport: There are always human rights in sports.
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