Based on an invitation from Pacific Forum CSIS, Mark Flanigan had the pleasure of joining the World Sports Values Summit for Peace and Development at the United Nations here in NYC. As part of the Summit, Mark was invited to serve on a panel entitled “The Transformational Potential of the Tokyo Olympics and International Sporting Platforms.” Mark spoke about his experiences living in Nagasaki and Tokyo, and shared his thoughts on the impacts of both the 1964 and 2020 Summer Olympic Games on Tokyo and Japan as a whole. The Moderator was Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa, Permanent Representative of Japan to the UN (and fellow ICU graduate)…a very small world!!

Mark joined various High-level officials, prominent athletes and youth at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to explore the power of youth and sports for peace and development during the World Sports Values Summit for Peace and Development from May 22-23, 2014. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stated, “Sport is increasingly recognized as an important tool in developing the United Nations achieve its objectives, in particular the Millennium Development Goals.”

The event was hosted by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and sponsored by World Faiths Development Dialogue, Worldwide Support for Development and the International Sports Promotion Society. The summit launched a young leaders fellowship under the mentorship of Mike Tindall, Rugby player and former Captain of the English team to fund sports and human development projects associated with the summit.

The UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser has identified Sports, among other forms of collective expressions of human values including Art, Music and Entertainment as additional tools that UNAOC can use to foster the culture of peace and diversity. Dr. Haruhisa Handa, Founder and Chairman of the International Sports Promotion Society, has focused on philanthropy and sports as a way to promote inclusion and peace in the world.

This meeting was the third part of a series of annual international symposia aimed at highlighting the positive role that sports can play in furthering the cause for peace and human development. A first event in London in June 2012 launched the series, and a second was held in Tokyo in July 2013. The goal is to facilitate a visionary and rigorous conversation among young athletes, leaders, academics and experts about the values that the world of sports can advance including, diversity, inclusion, peace building and development.

In all, it was a fantastic opportunity to examine the legacies of the Beijing and London Olympic games while analyzing the way forward for Tokyo to 2020. Mark was quite honored to have had such a great opportunity to join so many talented people at this Summit, including his fellow alumnus and Ambassador of Japan to the UN!

To see more photos from this Summit, click here.

To see a video of Mark’s UN presentation here from the 2:20-2:25 mark (he was the last panelist in the second group to present), click here.