Monaco, 15 May 2025
Peace and Sport, “L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport”, and the Institut de relations Internationales et Stratégiques (IRIS) are pleased to announce the signing of a partnership aimed at combining their respective expertise to promote sport as a lever for bringing people together, fostering dialogue and peace on the international stage.
This collaboration is based on a shared desire to better understand and promote the societal and geopolitical impact of sport. In particular, it will enable to combine IRIS’s research on the geopolitics of sport and the role of sport in international relations with Peace and Sport’s experience and its unique role as a pivot between grassroots organizations and political decision-makers. For over 18 years, anchored in the neutrality of Monaco, Peace and Sport has been working to promote the use of sport as a tool for inclusion and peace education, based on a bottom-up approach and relying on the commitment of inspiring athletes: the Champions For Peace.
Joël Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, welcomes this “natural and strategic” partnership:
“In a world undergoing profound change, where almost 500 million children live in conflict zones, this partnership is fully in line with our commitment to work in coalition to make sport a lever for peace. By pooling our expertise, we will be able to better document and strengthen the impact of our respective actions, and thus raise awareness among a wider audience, including decision-makers, of the transformative power of sport”.
Pascal Boniface, Director of IRIS, underlines the mutual benefits of this cooperation:
“Sport has become a central component of international relations. Working with Peace and Sport allows us to illustrate and feed our academic work with concrete feedback. Thanks in particular to its International Forum, the Organisation is a powerful gathering force in promoting a better understanding of the societal and geopolitical impact of sport.”
Through this alliance, Peace and Sport and IRIS aim to demonstrate that sport, beyond its competitive dimension, is a strategic tool at the service of peace, social cohesion and international diplomacy.
