One World, One Game, One Goal: Football as a Catalyst for Youth Mental Health and Well-Being (Spotlight Sessions, CR.1)

We have a wonderful session. I'll hand it over to Sahba.

All right, good morning everyone. Welcome to the UN Headquarters. I'm so excited to be here, uh, on behalf of the United Nations Youth Office. Thank you for joining us. for this spotlight session of the One World, One Game, One Goal: Sport as a Catalyst for Youth Mental Health and Well-Being. My name is Sahba Elshawah, and I have the privilege of serving as your host for this morning's spotlight session, highlighting the link between sports and youth mental health and well-being. I am one of the UN Young Leaders for the SDGs. Uh, I'm the founder of the Palestine Space Institute and the Jordan Space Research Initiative, and I work at the intersection of space technology and sustainable development. So full disclosure, my field is not sport, it's space. Um, but in space exploration, we also spend a great deal of time, uh, thinking about the conditions that people need not only to survive but to feel connected, supported, and able to thrive thrive, especially in isolated and extreme environments? And in many ways, today's conversation asks that same question here on Earth. Who gets to belong? Whose dignity is protected? And how do communities create resilience and hope when young people's lives are shaped by exclusion, displacement, or trauma? Sport provides a unique space where young people can interact, beyond everyday roles and differences, fostering connection, teamwork, and a shared sense of purpose. Research consistently shows that participation in sports is associated with positive mental health outcomes, including greater self-esteem, resilience, and life satisfaction, while helping reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Beyond these individual benefits, Sport also strengthens social cohesion. It promotes emotional well-being and encourages inclusion and community engagement. As both a physical activity and a social force, sport can be a powerful contributor to youth well-being. Whether as players, spectators, or supporters, many young people find in sport a source of connection, expression, and collective identity. Making it an important entry point for promoting mental health, inclusion, and positive youth development. As a Palestinian, I also understand how deeply identity, community, and mental well-being are connected, particularly for young people whose lives are shaped by displacement, exclusion, and uncertainty. Sport cannot resolve these realities on its own, but it can offer moments of connection, joy, and belonging, and remind young people that they are more than the circumstances that are imposed upon them. For the spotlight sessions this morning, 2 rooms are being used simultaneously to explore this connection between sport and youth mental health. Here in Conference Room 1, our conversations are guided by the theme Inclusive and Healing-Centered Sport for Marginalized and displaced youth. And over the next 2 and a half hours, we will hear from young leaders, athletes, practitioners, researchers, and organizations that are using sport to promote inclusion, strengthen resilience, and create spaces where marginalized and displaced young people can experience belonging, healing, and hope. Together, we will explore how sport can support mental well-being by creating safe, inclusive, and trauma-informed environments where every young person has the opportunity to participate, connect, and thrive. We encourage everyone to participate actively throughout the morning by engaging in discussions, joining the interactive moments, and connecting with our speakers. Before we begin, a few housekeeping announcements. Please place your mobile phones on silent And kindly remain seated during the presentations unless necessary. Today we are talking about mental health and touching on what could be a sensitive subject for many of us. So if during the session you feel like you need to step out and take a breath or take a break, our colleagues have designed a care space for you to enjoy it at Room B, which is going to be running until 2:30.

Thank you.

Ensuring the safety of our conversations in this room is a responsibility of all of us here, so if any— if at any moment you want to discuss any safety issues or concerns, you can approach Maryam, who— or any of the other UN Youth Office staff who are all wearing the blue jerseys today. We will conclude this morning's program at approximately 12:45. And it's very important that we stay on time. So, I do have this gavel here that I will be cutting people off if need be. I would rather not use it to cut you off just for fun. So, please try to stick to the allotted time. So, we hope today's conversations inspire new ideas, stronger partnerships, and practical action to advance youth mental health through inclusive and healing-centered sport. To begin our program, it is my pleasure to welcome Sudha, the Chief of the UN System Coordination and Accountability Section at the United Nations Youth Office, to say a few words. Please join me in welcoming Sudha.

Thank you, Seba, and welcome everyone to this day-long event on One World, One Goal, One Game, One Goal. Put together by the UN Youth Office, and I'm delighted to have you all with us. The Youth Office is the youngest office in the UN. It's 3 years old and established entirely, fully dedicated to advancing youth issues, not only by prioritizing work for youth but also working together with young people across the world. We are here to talk about mental health and how it is affecting several segments of the population across all the places across the globe today. And rethinking mental health and well-being means how to navigate these challenges and changes every day in our lives and reimagining a world where young people can grow, learn, live, work, and connect meaningfully. And this is why the Youth Office's mental health flagship initiative takes a holistic approach to mental health, and sports is the key resilience mechanism right at the center of youth well-being. And we are here to look at several spotlights from across the globe to see how sport is shaping the resilience of young people. I invite you to all be joining the different sessions. We have an exciting curated list of sessions today, and towards the end of the day, we will also launch a fantastic mental health campaign that will see the global rollout starting today. And be with us during this moment. And with that, let me— allow me to invite the Nigerian football legend Daniel Amokachi to the stage. Daniel— Daniel is a Nigerian football legend, Olympian, and global sports ambassador whose career reflects excellence, leadership, and social impact. Born in Kaduna in Nigeria, he began his professional journey with Ranchers B and rose to prominence at Club Brugge, Everton Football Club, and Besiktas JK, winning the FA Cup in 1995. Internationally, he was a key member of Nigeria's Golden Generation and helping the Nigerian national football team win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and secure Olympic gold at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. Post-retirement, since 2001, he has served in roles of— with FIFA and CAF, and through the Daniel Amokachi Foundation, EduPlus Youth Development Foundation, and the United Nations Football for Goals initiative, advances youth empowerment, inclusion, and sustainable development. through education and sport. We are really honored to have you with us, Daniel, and we'll spend a few minutes talking to him to see what has been his journey and what we can take away from him. Thank you.

Thank you.

No, it's okay. Okay, Dhagav, welcome and thank you for being with us today.

Thank you very much.

As someone who's— Can you hear me?

Can you hear me well now?

Yes.

Yeah, okay. As someone whose life has been shaped by football on and off the field, what does the theme One World, One Game, and One Goal mean to you?

personally?

Over to you, Daniel.

Thank you very much for having me. That's a strong question, definitely. I drafted something that you will indulge me to read it.

Absolutely.

Because the environment where I came from, dealing with mental health is totally different from dealing with mental health in Europe or in America. Like you already mentioned, I was born in Kaduna. Let me just read from here. I was born in a community where peace and justice reigns. Today I live in a community where there is limited peace and justice. I was born in a community where there is enough to eat. Today I live in a community where there is hunger. I was born in a community where We don't know what drug was. Today I live in a community where many are exposed to drugs. Even if you avoid drugs, they can still find their way to you. There is a reality many young people face today due to factors like mental health struggling. Let's talk mental health for real. When a father or mother cannot put food in their children's belly, When a parent cannot afford to send their children to school, when parents cannot afford hospital bills and see their loved one die in their arms because of less than $5, when parents cannot afford to pay rent, someone that owns a house now lives in a shelter. When families go farming. They end up being killed. Mental health can be defeated, and we have to all come together to support it and make it happen. And because it cannot be defeated in classrooms, it has to be on the field. One World, One Game, One Goal means commitment to leveraging the unifying language of power of football. to dismantle society barriers and building sustainable system where there is peace, systematically justice access to mental health and well-being services of security. Our goal at the Daniel Amokachi EduPlus Youth Development Foundation, we've used sports, especially football, and basketball. Our foundation focuses on 4 of the goals of the SDG Goals 2030: number 2, which is zero hunger; number 3, well-being; number 4, quality education; and number 16, peace and justice. And sports have definitely helped us overcome it.

Thank you.

What a moving story.

Thank you.

What a moving change in contrast of circumstances, how things have evolved. And this is, friends, this is the change that is happening all around us, not only in Kaduna, not only in Nigeria, not only in Africa, but all around us. And as Daniel said, this is— this port is the key resilience mechanism to young— for young people to be their best in terms of moving forward with their goals, with their lives, and society's justice as well. Okay, let's move on to your own journey, Danielle. Throughout your journey from the initial start in local football to being an international legend, Sport has undoubtedly presented both opportunities and challenges for you. How did football help shape your resilience, your confidence, and your overall well-being? Tell us more.

I think you've touched all the elements that football blesses with. Like you did say, I was— I'm an old man now— I was a young man growing up on the streets of Kaduna in Nigeria. I was blessed to find myself picked to represent my country at the age of 16, becoming 17. Football gave me everything that I need, everything. I walk down the street and I get millions chasing me.

Mm-hmm.

And then you wake up one day and all that is taken away from you. I found myself retiring at the age of 27.

Wow.

So that's really, really bad for a professional player, and that's where the mental health kicks in. Now, uh, I made a lot of money, wasted a lot of money, woke up one day, I was bankrupt. I have to look in my children's eyes and my wife's eye one day, and I started shedding tears. So many things were going in my head. Today, I have like a whole— my whole family, friends that became family, families that became friends, and we have to come. I told her earlier, if we could put everybody in a Boeing 737, the whole Africa will be here from my village, because this is key. What we are discussing today goes a long way in shaping the lives of our new generation. Football gave me everything. Football took everything. And football made me who I ended up becoming. Because after retiring at 27, after checking my bank account and I have a zero account, after thinking so many things going in my head, suicidal going in my head and all that stuff, I have to look back to football.

Yeah.

My neighbors, my friends, we play soccer every day, and at the same time they said, ah, but you look good doing this. Why don't you go for a coaching course or stuff? And then they have to now contribute money for me to go have my coaching course in Europe, and then I got my badges as a coach in Europe.

Wow.

After getting that badge, football brought me back to where— and that's why I'm sitting in front of you today. That's why sport and football is key, because it can take you there, you found yourself down again, and it can repropagate you and be who you needed to be in life.

Great story. Thank you for sharing it with us, Daniel. It's so empowering to see the journey that you've taken and where you are to shape other young people's lives. Thank you very much. So, thank you so much. You know, really, really very, very inspiring. So, real people, real talk, which you will see more in terms of the advocacy. I want to finish with asking you one question, one word of— or one message that you want to tell young people who are here, but also watching you online now. So tell us, what is it, one message that you want to give the young people around you?

One word? You cannot describe it in one word. We cannot describe it in one word for sure. We have to be open. We have to be visual. We go through a lot in life that we ignore to see. And when we are in that state of mind, we must seek for help, because if you don't open up, nobody will know what you're going through. If you are not aware with the situation that is going around you, you will not see what the other person is facing. Let me tell you a quick story, indulge me. We had a young player from South Africa who participated in this year's World Cup. We just lost him about 10 days ago.

Yes.

He was going through a lot. Before the World Cup, he lost his grandmother. Then he lost his best friend. And then he came to the World Cup. And a video is there circulating where you can see they won a game. They were jubilating, but he was seated isolated. That's why I'm talking about awareness. We must notice what is going around us. We must be open to what is going with us so that we seek solution. If I was quiet with my life, I wouldn't have had my friends and family see that I was good enough to go and, you know, restart my career as a coach still in football. You must be open, and it's left for me and you to look around and see people that need help.

Very powerful words.

Be aware, be open, seek help when needed. That's the legend, Daniel Amokachi. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much to Suhail and Daniel for opening today's program with such an inspiring conversation, and Daniel for sharing his story of resilience and the importance of speaking out and sharing and being there as a community. And that's a really important message. So we now begin with segment 1, which is led by Special Olympics International, and we'll explore how unified sports creates friendships, breaks down barriers, and strengthens inclusion for young people with and without intellectual disabilities. Please welcome our moderator, Skye Riley, together with today's inspiring speakers. Please join us on the stage.

Thank you, Good morning.

This year I did my first half Ironman.

Yeah, I'm very proud of it.

People said always, you know, you guys, Special Athletes, you are too dumb for do that.

That's not true.

This is Special Olympics. I used to ride 3 wheelers.

Now I ride 2 wheelers. It's a quite different to show my talent and best I can play.

This is Special Olympics.

I'm an elected councillor and a Special Olympics athlete. I faced lots of challenges to get this far, but now I am respected for who I am.

I hope my story can inspire others on the journey for inclusion.

This is Special Olympics.

Good morning, everyone. Can you guys hear me? Good morning.

There we go.

Thank you guys so much for joining us today. We're excited to be your Spotlight number 1. My name is Skye Riley, and I am the Senior Manager of Global Youth and Education at Special Olympics International. As you saw in our very quick intro video, you're lucky that it wasn't at full volume, because when we tested it yesterday, it almost threw me to the back of the room. But Special Olympics is the world's largest sport and inclusion movement for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. We were founded in 1968 in Chicago by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. And today, we are a global organization that provides year-round athletic opportunities and competition in 30 Olympic-style sports and leadership training for about 5 million participants globally. Today, you will hear directly from some of our amazing youth leaders about their experiences part of Special Olympics, and truly about how being included in sports has changed their overall mental, physical well-being, and truly how the feeling of belonging has changed their schools and their communities. For those who may not be familiar with our work, Unified Sports brings together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities abilities, to train and compete on the same team. While sport is the center of what we do at Special Olympics and the center of today's topic, the real impact goes far beyond the game at Special Olympics. Unified Sports creates friendships, it breaks down stereotypes, and helps young people develop the sense of belonging that is so important to building positive mental health and well-being for students around the globe. We have a quick little video to showcase what really Unified Sports means to us as a movement and to students and athletes.

Unified Sports is the activity, I think, in the school that grabs everyone together, whether they're participating on the field or watching from the sidelines, it gets everybody pumped and excited and seeing what Special Olympics really is all about. Unified Sports is a unique opportunity to bring a competitive sport to a population that hadn't had that before. We have Division I programs, we have Division II programs, we have Division III programs, and Unified is no different. It's just a different level of competition.

That's what makes sports so powerful.

It makes kids from all different backgrounds, it puts them on an equal playing field, and it allows them to be spotlighted.

Having those sports for them, it's good because it gets them out there.

Special Olympics has basically made them more outgoing kids.

and more happy kids.

And for my kids to be known and what they do, it's pretty awesome. Unified sports are providing the opportunity for students with and without intellectual disabilities to participate in activities together. The more and more that we're immersed in a district from the earliest grade levels all the way through college will just ensure that inclusion inclusion is just completely immersed in a child's life.

So my, my job basically is to take the subject area of physical education and make it possible so all students can succeed at it. Okay, so I'm gonna say Lauren, just say her name, toss her the ball, and she says thank you and she says the person's name Students in the general education program and students in the special education program get to be together every single day and learn so much from each other.

Thank you, Matthew.

My name's Julia.

Trent.

Aaron.

Giselle.

Now we're moving.

Once these kids got 86 minutes a day together, You're really able to take those relationships and build on them.

Well, Matthew is probably the most popular kid in the school.

He knows everyone, right?

You know everyone?

Everyone knows you.

Matthew and Grace knowing each other since 3rd grade, they've never had the opportunity to have a class together. I mean, Matthew's got his classes, Grace has got her classes, but because of Unified PE for the first time they got to come together and learn together in this physical education environment.

There's just something about Unified that connects everyone together. It's something that people just bond over really easily. Everyone kind of knows everyone in the school now.

I'll see you later.

Okay, I'll see you later. Work hard. I'm watching. Bye, baby.

There is this great world out there that you can go out and conquer. This charge going forward is important because in reality it'll change the world and the way we see things as opportunities. I think it's huge for our kids to see the differences among, among their friends, among their peers, and to interact with people who are different culturally, physically, racially, economically. We just think that that's a really important It's the most important thing that we can give to our kids, and to be able to be a part of that is amazing.

Remember, let's have lots of fun.

There's—

I think there's 20 different stations for you to participate in.

Showcase those skills, have some fun with it, and Live Unified. Repeat after me: Live Unified!

Live Unified!

Their level of confidence and belonging in a community and the joy, really, of a lot of our athletes, I don't think before this program you would have seen that.

And this has created all of these different opportunities for these kids to do stuff together inside and outside of school. The idea then hopefully goes from the gym, then it goes to the hallways, and it goes to the lunchroom, and eventually goes out there into the community where everybody can just be together and be unified outside.

So we're joined today by a few of our youth leaders who are going to be sharing their own experiences of how Unified Sports has changed them. So we are joined by youth leaders from Special Olympics Minnesota, Rylan Zannon and Tom Blair. Together they serve on our Global Youth Leadership Council where they work with youth leaders from around the world to advance inclusion and youth leadership through sport. So before we dive into the questions, I'd love for you guys to introduce yourselves. Rylan, we'll start with you.

Hi, everyone. My name is Rylan Zannon, and I've been a part of Special Olympics for 10 years. I participate in bowling and track and field with Special Olympics Minnesota. I was part of Special Olympics Minnesota Student Board of Directors for 3 years. And I was a Special Olympics U.S. Youth Ambassador from 2023 to 2025.

Now I'm a—

now I'm on the Global Youth Leadership Council from 2025 until 2027. As Global Youth Leadership Council members, Tom and I are a part of making and planning for the 2027 Youth Summit at the Special Olympics World Games in Santiago, Chile. There, we'll spread the importance and meaning of unified sports through represent youth, athletes, families from around the world.

All right, Tom, over to you.

Hello, everyone. What an honor it is for Rylan and I to be here. Thank you all for coming. My name is Thomas Blair, and I am from the state of Minnesota in the United States of America. I have worked with Special Olympics for 7 years, and I have been Unified Partners with Rylan for every step of the way. Previously, I have been a unified basketball coach. I have worked on the Special Olympics Minnesota State Board, and I have worked with Special Olympics North America as a youth ambassador. And of course, I did all of this with Rylan. I am now working as a Special Olympics International— with Special Olympics International as a Global Youth Council member with Rylan.

Thank you both.

super excited to have you. So as you guys have heard, they obviously have a very strong friendship, and that's one of the greatest strengths of Unified Sports, is that it creates opportunities for friendships that may have never happened otherwise. Unified Sports has proven to have a lasting impact on our youth who participate in their confidence, their sense of belonging, and truly their mental and physical well-being. So Ryland, I'd love to start with you. Before Unified What was your experience like at school? Did you always feel like you belonged? And what changed after you participated in inclusive programming?

Before joining Special Olympics, my family moved around a lot when I was younger. And when we moved, we were somewhere for a year, maybe 2 years before we had to move again. So it was really hard for me to make friends and be a part of sports teams. After joining Special Olympics, I made a lot of new friends. And got to meet a lot of new people. When playing on a Unified team, I felt like I didn't— I felt like I did belong because I was playing with others who have intellectual disabilities. I did not have to tell the coaches because the coaches already knew that everyone had an intellectual disability. Having made these friendships through Unified Sports, I felt like I did belong. And to this day, I still have these friendships with a lot of my teammates because I have played sports sports with them for many, many years. I've known Tom for 7 years now. My, my friendship with Tom means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to him as well. I know that I can count on Tom if I ever need anything. He is my best friend and my ride or die, and I couldn't imagine not doing this journey without Tom.

I love that. If you guys get the chance to connect with them today, you'll see that. So Tom, after hearing those very kind words from Ryland and from your own experiences and your own perspectives, how has this friendship impacted your own well-being and the way you look and think about inclusion?

I just wanted to start by saying that without the opportunity to participate in Unified Sports, I never would have met Ryland. Our friendship began because of Unified Sports. and the impact that Unified Sports had on both of us. This initial time together influenced us to become Unified Partners with Special Olympics and reinforced us to become lifelong friends. I really started to become close with Rylan when I was the coach of our school's Unified basketball team and she was one of the players. But even though I was the coach, Rylan was the one who was always teaching me. Rylan helped me get oriented with how Unified Sports worked She introduced me to everyone. She gave me tips on how to adapt to drills and how to build team morale, and she even helped me get the other players to pay attention sometimes. She did all of this even though we had just met. Rylan instantly was just a leader in the room. Everybody respected and listened to her when she opened her mouth. She has a calming presence. Skye was a little nervous before we came up here. And we were rehearsing at breakfast, and, uh, Ryland just looked up and kind of smiled at Skye and gave her a little nod, and Skye was like, we're good, everybody's good. Ryland is super personable, and she is my rock.

She is—

I don't know how I could do this without her. 7 years later, I consider Ryland to be one of my closest and best friends. I am so incredibly lucky to be able to work with her. And without Unified Sports, there is a very large chance that I would never have even mattered. My friendship with Ryland has redefined how I live my life, and our connection has changed the way that I view inclusion. People like Ryland inspire me to live for inclusion to the fullest extent of the definition. My life would not be the same without Ryland, and I would have it no other way.

We know that friendships are truly the foundation for young people to feel like they have a community, that they feel like they belong. And your friendship is such a powerful example of what's possible when sport creates spaces for everyone to belong. But the impact goes far beyond a single friendship, even though it is truly the best friendship. Inclusive programs like Unified Sports can serve as a bridge to more inclusive schools like you saw in our video today, stronger communities that we see globally, and a world where truly everyone is valued and more importantly seen. Tom, as a Unified partner, what changes did you notice in your own school community because of Unified Sports?

I am confident to tell you all that Unified Sports drastically improved our school camaraderie. It all started from our Unified basketball team, where we had hundreds of students come to our state tournament to cheer on our team. Before that tournament, our school was almost completely segregated between general education and special education students. After that tournament, our school had permanently changed. It had integrated into one unified student body. I can tell you every day of school after that tournament, special needs kids and general education students alike, they came up to me almost every day and they asked me when the next basketball tournament was going to be because it was just so impactful for so many people, and especially for the unified pairs on the team. They finally got the opportunity to be on the court to represent their school and have a real sense of pride and belonging. They went from cheering on the sidelines to being cheered for, and being able to witness that changed my life. Special education students and general education students began to form friendships within the school, with students stopping and talking in the hallways or planning to take the same classes together, eating lunch together, riding the bus together. But I saw these relationships that were formed inside the classroom last outside of the classroom as well. Students would go to sporting events together, hang out after class together, and go to extracurricular events such as prom. I'll tell you guys, my prom would not be the same without this guy DJ. He was the life of the party the entire time. I mean, I— yeah, there are so many pictures of DJ. Ryland's laughing because she knows. When I was a senior in high school, I was talking to a friend of mine named Mason, who told me that he had never been to a high school American football game, given that his needs weren't accommodated for, but he had always wanted to go. So I talked to the football coach, the athletic director, and the principal at our school to organize a tent at the high school American football games that would be designated for individuals with special needs. The next week, Mason ran up to me and his face was just lit up. He was smiling ear to ear, and he told me all about the game. I probably took him like half an hour. He talked me through every single play, even though I was on the team. But my favorite part of his story was about how during the first quarter, some of his friends were walking by and they saw him in the tent. They stopped and asked if he wanted to go into the student section with him. While the tent was there for Mason if he needed it, what it really did was open the door for him to experience something that he had always wanted to do— to watch a high school football game with his friends. Unified Sports opened the door for the culture at our school to shift towards an inclusive environment that integrated into people's daily routines, and I am forever grateful to be a part of such an impactful and positive movement.

Thank you, Mr.

Thank you so much, Tom. It's lovely to hear stories like Mason's where they felt more included at school, more part of the community. And I know that those moments make someone feel more welcomed, which overall makes someone feel happier and feel like they have a better mental health. So I appreciate you sharing that story. And I need to see those prom pictures. Rylan, I'd love to also hear your perspective on this as well. why do you think it's important to create spaces where everyone feels like they belong for positive youth well-being?

Unified Sports changed the culture of our school by giving students without intellectual disabilities to learn more about what Unified Sports are. An example of this is when our high school football team puts on an adapted football day where students with intellectual disabilities come to the high school and meet all the players on our football team. And they do different drills throughout the day. For the last drill, every student who has an intellectual disability gets a chance to go and score a touchdown. This day impacts both the students with special needs at our school because they get to experience what it's like to be part of the football team. And the football players get to use their skills to help students with intellectual disabilities to feel included.

Thank you.

Because of Unified Sports, our school has changed into a place where every student felt welcomed and were excited to go to school. A place where students' lives were changed for the better. A place where everyone felt that they belonged. All these things wouldn't have been possible without Unified Sports being at our school.

Thank you so much.

I think it was really interesting what you said about students wanted to come to school. I think young people can sometimes find school intimidating because they don't know what group they fit into. They don't know who to talk to at lunch. So it's great to hear that having an inclusive program like Unified Sports made everyone feel more equal and have a true place at school. So I love knowing that. Listening to you both, it's clear that Unified Sport is much more than just sport. It's where friendships grow, confidence builds, and really mental well-being is being strengthened through inclusion and belonging. Throughout today's conversation with our lovely youth leaders, we've seen what's possible when young people choose to include. But creating communities where everyone feels like they belong don't happen by chance. I think everyone knows that in the room, otherwise we wouldn't be here. It takes people who are willing to lead, willing to challenge barriers, and willing to take action. That is why in 2023— 2023, yep— youth leaders with and without intellectual disabilities came together from all parts of the world at the Global Youth Leadership Summit in Berlin, which is held alongside our Special Olympics Olympics World Games. Youth leaders created the Special Olympics Youth Declaration just for this, to take action.

The declaration is a vision for a more inclusive future. It is a youth-led call to action that challenges schools, communities, organizations, and leaders to create spaces where every young person feels valued, respected, and like they truly belong. But a declaration only creates change if people choose to act.

Unified Sports changed my life because someone chose inclusion. Someone chose to welcome me, believe in me, and make sure I felt like I belonged. Today we're asking you to make the same choice. We invite you to read and sign the Special Olympics Youth Declaration and commit to taking action in your own school, workplace, or community. Whether it's starting one conversation, including someone new, challenging stereotypes, or creating opportunities for everyone to participate, every action matters. Together, we can break down barriers, create communities where everyone belongs, and support the positive mental health and well-being of young people around the world.

So, if I can ask for the Youth Declaration to be put on the screen instead of my face. There we go. So, we invite you to visit the QR code, and this is the official Youth Declaration that was created by our young leaders in Berlin. They wrote every word. reached out to, or, you know, noted who they wanted to take action for young people to empower young people. So we invite you to read and sign our Special Olympics Youth Declaration, because like Rylan said, together, one action at a time, we can truly create a world where every young person is seen. Belonging is truly the foundation of positive mental health and well-being. Thank you guys so much for listening to us today. Thank you to our amazing youth leaders, and we hope you have a wonderful rest of your program.

Thank you so much to Skye, Tom, and Rylan for sharing such inspiring personal experiences. It was really such a great story of friendship and how that creates belonging and challenges stereotypes and shows us that sport can help create communities where every young person feels welcomed, valued, and respected. We now move to segment 2, which is led by the Mount Sinai Health team, exploring how social connection, culture, and community-based approaches can strengthen in youth mental health and well-being through sport. Please welcome Dr. Sidney Hankerson and the Mount Sinai team.

Thank you.

Thank you, Miriam, for that warm introduction. And just, it's a pleasure to see everyone here at the United Nations Youth Mental Wellness Summit. I am Dr. Sidney Hankerson, Vice Chair of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai, and I'm joined by just an esteemed panel. Of colleagues, youth leaders, and members of our team who are really committed to reshaping the story of mental health as it relates to youth. I'm going to let each of our speakers introduce themselves as they speak. And so first, just as a way of connecting with each other and emphasizing this story of the narrative of stories, As a power to reshape how we talk about, think about, and seek care for mental health, we're going to start with an icebreaker. So if we can have the next slide. So I'd like everyone here to please turn to your neighbor, and if that means getting up, please get up, but please turn to your neighbor and share with them the story of your name. who named you, what your name means, and how your culture influenced the meaning of your name. Who named you, what your name means, and how your culture influenced the meaning of your name. Each person share about 1 minute.

Okay.

All right, y'all go ahead. If you don't have a neighbor, just move closer.

My name is—

Okay.

So maybe 30 more seconds and then we'll come back together. All right, so let's, let's come back together. Thank you all for participating in that. We thought with the theme of One World, One Game, One Goal, we wanted everyone to share at least one story. So I would like to have one brave soul come up to this mic and share with the group today what this experience was like for you as you shared the story of your name and as you listened to your neighbor. I'm a psychiatrist, so I'm okay with silence.

Oh.

Do we have one brave soul?

Thank you.

Can you briefly share your name as you get to the microphone and briefly share what this experience was like for you as you shared the story of your name and listened to your neighbor?

So, hi, everyone.

My name is Raki, and actually, it was a great experience because I came here alone. I've been invited because I'm really excited about sports, everything, and I'm from Senegal, actually. I came from Dakar, and I didn't know anybody, and when I started, like, I just came across some, like, folks, and it was a great experience because I found out that a lot of things are coming from storytelling and history. Because like, for example, Naomi told me that her mom named her from Naomi Campbell. So you can imagine how pop culture actually influenced everywhere in the world.

It was just extraordinary.

I loved it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. So next slide. So why I love that exercise is because it really helps us to connect with our neighbor, and it shows that our names and our present reality have stories that are influenced by our culture, sometimes internationally. And so briefly, I currently am a psychiatrist and I provide care for youth and adults who have mental health challenges. But the story of my adolescence, which is what we're focusing on today, was really connected to sports and mental health. When I was in high school, I really struggled with my weight. People teased me and called me Sumo Sid. And the thing that helped pull me out of that deep despair was basketball. And we are now leveraging basketball to engage youth where they are to promote mental health. Next picture. And this is actually a picture of me last year with Dr. Lynn Richardson, who, for the Knicks fans in the house, with Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks. And so we are leveraging sports and basketball as a way to promote mental health. Next slide. And so, you know, what is the importance of talking about mindset and mental health? This slide is provided from our dear colleague, uh, Raul Andrews at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, and it really shows that your mindset is your competitive advantage. Oftentimes across the world, when we hear mental health, we just think of problems or a crisis or challenges, but we want to highlight today The positive aspects of mental wellness. We want to highlight today how environmental factors impact your mental health. Yes, there's a place for mental health conditions, but we also want to provide practical solutions. Next slide. And one of the biggest challenges that we want to acknowledge and address is the rate of increase in the youth mental health crisis among certain groups, in particular Black youth in the United States are dying from suicide at a rate faster than any other group. In fact, there has been a 144% increase in suicide attempts among Black youth between the years of 2007 and 2020. Next slide. And that is the crisis and the challenge that we aim to address with our program, Brothers Connect. So I'm going to turn it over to Justice Charles, who is going to briefly introduce himself and tell you what Brothers Connect is.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Justice Charles, and I'm the clinical research coordinator for Brothers Connect at the Kahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai under Dr. Hankerson. So let's get into what Brothers Connect actually is. Brothers Connect is a program that is tailored to the needs of adolescent boys aged 13 to 19 as they navigate stressors that affect their mental well-being. We want to build up their core strengths and help them become better leaders in their community. This age group is especially important because, as we all know, that age group is going through a transitional period. They're going through heightened decision-making, heightened responsibilities, and they're balancing relationships, family dynamics, and school, amongst other things. We believe it's important To strengthen young people's skills so they can effectively cope with and manage stress. Brothers Connect is a place for all young men to find healing, purpose, and connection. Also— oh, you could go back. Also, parents, caregivers, coaches, and other supporting adults have an opportunity to train separately as well. We realize the importance of building up the youth, but also the ability to impact entire communities, serving as a ripple effect of positive change and mental wellness.

Okay.

You could go back as well. Sorry. So we partner with youth-serving organizations such as YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs, and basketball programs throughout New York City. And we do this because we want to meet the youth exactly where they're at. Recognizing that meaningful connections begin in the communities where the youth feel the safest.

Okay.

Okay, so starting with the 4 cores, which serves as a foundation for the Connect curriculum, starting with kinship, which is social networks and connections. I want you to think family, think support systems, and people who make us feel accepted and cared for. Going to the next core, which is purpose. So meaning and value in life. The things that motivate us to keep you going with the bigger picture in sight. Going to the third core, which is guidance. So when you think of guidance, think informal and formal help-seeking. It is formal, could be doctors, clinicians, therapists, things of that nature. And then informal, You could think of friends. But the main thing is that we want to make sure that we allow the youth to know how to seek these different forms of guidance. The 4th core is balance. So that's activities that create strength. So I want you to think of, you know, playing video games, going home and playing basketball, you know, doing the things that you really love. But the things that you love, they bring you energy, they restore you, and they support your overall well-being. Okay. So now we thought it would be really important to highlight a youth perspective. So I want to ask Ricky 2 questions. So can we give Ricky a round of applause really quickly? Okay, Ricky, you can introduce yourself if you want.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Ricky Pierre, and I am a participant of Brothers Connect through the Flatbush YMCA.

Okay, Ricky, so the first question is, thinking back to your first Brothers Connect session, how is the person who walked into the room different from the person here today?

Previously walking into the room, I was unable to speak about what was going on internally with anyone, and being a man meant that I had to be a stoic figure. Now I am able to talk to my peers about things, ask them for guidance on situations that have troubled me, because I now understand that others may go through similar experiences and can help uplift you.

Thank you for sharing that, Ricky. It takes a lot to share in Brothers Connect, so thank you. The second— oh, yeah. The second question, Ricky, is how has Brothers Connect changed the way you show up for yourself, your family, or your community?

Brothers Connect has helped me build— to build healthy habits, not just for myself but for others, to freely express my emotions and what is classified as being a man. That to me now means Understanding what is going on internally and working towards bettering ourselves not only strengthens our connections with our peers, but it also taught me to understand emotional cues because not everybody may look to you for guidance. They might have something where it's like they step away for a little bit and it's up to you to recognize when somebody is in need to provide them with that guidance.

I just want to thank Ricky for sharing. I know that could be difficult, but he was very, very vulnerable with us. So can we give him another round of applause? And I'll pass the mic off now.

So, thank you all for sharing your perspectives so far. My name is Dr. Sarah Wood. I'm an adolescent medicine physician scientist and director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center. And I think one of the things that we've heard today is the importance of these cores and the idea that it's not just the interaction that one person has with a young person, but it's building an ecosystem for mental health around our youth. At my center, that's really how we roll. We are one of the largest adolescent health centers in the United States. We have a central clinic in East Harlem and 6 school-based health centers in New York City that serve 23 youth. And what is unique about our model is, number one, We heard that sometimes that being able to admit your vulnerability, to talk about wanting to be in mental health services can be so challenging. Our model and our mission is to remove those barriers to accessing care. So all of our care is free for every young person who walks in the door. We see walk-in patients 6 days a week, whether you're at the school or at our main clinic. And we have a huge service line of trained mental health clinicians trained in trauma-informed treatment modalities who, if I identify a young person who is depressed in a medical visit, I'm literally just sending a text through the electronic health record and we will link them that same day to a trained mental health clinician who will do an evaluation, you know, recognize if there's a need either either bring them into care with us or link them somewhere in their community that works. And we work with the young people who are around— we work with the adult figures in those young people's lives to make that happen. So in our schools, one of the key relationships we have is with our coaches. So what we're going to be doing in a month is going out and meeting with every coach at each of our schools and trying to get those American football players, the— we call it soccer, but the real football players, in early in the year for the sports physicals. As each one of those sports physicals happen, there's a trained mental health clinician in the clinic. So, if we identify that there's a larger need, we can wrap around. And because of that, we provide mental health care to over 1,200 young people a year, which is pretty astounding. Next slide. The other way—

Thank you.

I think the other thing that's really critical about our model is we're invested as part of our health system in positive youth development. While we know a lot of our young people and our athletes may want to be able to become a professional footballer, may want to go on to have that level of play. Many won't. It's a hard pyramid to get to the top of. And so, as we move through, we're training our young people, giving them skills and economic pathways to success. So, we have a program called SPEAK that has trained over 200 young people from East Harlem, Harlem, and the Bronx to become community health educators. We have our youth in that program develop our social media content. So you can see one of our youth-created posts here really addressing this issue that for many young men, they may face challenges to opening up and feeling vulnerable talking about mental health. So really creating new social norms in that area. And in about an hour, I'm going to need to ride my bike back up to East Harlem to meet with my youth leads where we're training a cadre of youth young people to become a national research advisory board for researchers who want to engage with young people around health-related research. And I'll say it's not just giving people the skills, it's also making sure that they have those economic opportunities. So each person I am meeting with, for the hour they're with me, is going to be making 4 to 5 times the minimum wage for getting those skills. And that's a huge part of that empowerment. And I want to turn it over to Rome.

Next slide, please. Good morning. I want to welcome you all once again to today's very important conversation. I want to thank the United Nations Youth Office and all the team members who have made Uh, this program so impactful and a lot of the hard work that went on behind the scenes. You didn't see it, you didn't hear it, but the thread line for all of that and what you heard from speakers during and before this panel, every time and anytime we hear, tell, or listen to a story about the human experience, that is a mental health story.

Yes.

So, we may not all be struggling with a mental health condition, but we all have mental health. And so, our goal at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation is to promote a mentally healthy world, principally in 5 domains: where we live, learn, work, worship, and play. And that are— this is one of the reasons we're here. And all of those aspects of our work are tied to the Global Goals. And so we highlight Goals 3 through 5, 10, and 17 in particular, but we know that in all of the 17 goals, mental health is coursing through those activities. I want to thank Daniel the Bull for bringing his story to bear because one of the reasons— give him another round of applause. And I want to extend an offer of fellowship and friendship, Daniel, because we would love to work with your foundation. One of the things— One of the things that we do in our play in the United States where we're headquartered, but we have members in psychiatry in 100 countries around the world, including Nigeria. And we have a program called Notice, Talk, Act. And Daniel talked about notice. How do we notice signs and symptoms of distress? How do we become better open to active listening so we can talk constructively about what's going on, whatever the mental health concern is? And then what are the culturally appropriate and geographically accessible tools, tips, and resources that can help that particular student or individual in a time of need? Notice, talk, act. We call it in the United States the stop, drop, and roll of mental health. It is free for any K-12 school in the United States based on a federal grant that we still have. And we want to take it across the globe because everybody needs a little Notice, Talk, Act so we can get mental health out of the crisis management business. It's got to be an everyday thing, not a sometime thing when crisis strikes. Next slide, please. Well, I think Daniel did as good a job as anybody talking about the situation he went through. But what athletes and coaches can do is help us humanize our heroes. So when a Daniel says that he struggled, but he had a community around him that could lift him up, that gave him a reason to come back again tomorrow, to try again, to be a little bit better. But when we see isolation, that is when we're at most at risk. And that's why we need Dr. Sarah and we need Dr. Sidney. Because they're giving us a place to stay, they're giving us a place to hang, and they're giving us a place to heal. We can't thrive in isolation. We cannot heal in isolation. We've got to be a part of the community. Next slide, please, which is— this is, you know, last slide or so for me. If we go to the next slide, Please. I want to talk to you— in all over the world, what I have discovered in my travels, there are Android people and there are iPhone people. I don't care how old or new your phone is. I don't care which device you prefer. If you don't have battery life, does it really matter? That battery life to this device is your brain. That's your mind health. It's got to be optimized to work appropriately. So why is it we just run it down and then we are desperate to find a charging station? Similarly, in our cars and trucks, what I have seen in my travels is that when you need gas because the fuel light comes on, you run into a gas station as quickly as possible. You got an electronic vehicle, you're looking for a charging station as quickly as possible. But when it comes to the check engine light, the dashboard is telling you something is wrong. You may not be a mechanic, you may not be a doctor. I don't know how to diagnose, I don't know how to heal. But if the brain is telling you, if the mind is telling you, if the vehicle is telling you something is wrong, let's go get some help now. Let's not wait till we're stuck on the side of the road with 2% battery life thinking somebody's going to come save us. We got to get out of the crisis management business. So again, I just want to thank you. The American Psychiatric Association Foundation is here. We're honored to be here. We have, through the APA, special consultative status already with the United Nations. But I also bring greetings on behalf of Rotary International, and we have general consultative status. Either of those groups would welcome an opportunity to continue to partner with all of these organizations. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next question. So, you know, as we conclude our time together today, as I've been given the signs that we need to wrap up, we just want to come back to the theme of our— of this summit. You know, one world, one goal, and I would like to say one hope. As you think about the stories of your name that you shared with your neighbor today, I bet that no one shared a family history of a mental health challenge. I bet that no one shared a history of anxiety, depression, substance use, or perhaps even actually making a suicide attempt. But I'm willing to bet that all of us in our families have those stories. And so as we think about this inaugural summit and we think about one hope, our hope with Brothers Connect, our hope with the Adolescent Health Center, our hope with the American Psychiatric Association Foundation is to spread hope across this city, across this state, and ultimately across the world so that no child, no young person, does not have hope and can access culturally relevant mental health services. And I think that, you know, it's so important that this summit is couched within the World Cup. Sunday, more people will be glued to their TVs for 2 hours than at any other time during the year. We know that the World Cup final is the most watched sporting event of the year. And if you would think about how transparently Daniel shared those struggles, if we can think about Lionel Messi coming to this summit next year and sharing how he overcame stressors, or if we can think about any of the other soccer stars in the world, basketball stars, American football track and field stars, bowling stars. Sports has a unique way to give hope, to give community, and to give connection. And tennis stars. I see Dan from NAMI back there. So, so let us have one goal, one world, and one hope. And let us spread this hope for every young person who is secretly in silence struggling with despair, to give them the hope that they need. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Hankerson, for that beautiful message of hope, and to our distinguished panelists for sharing their really inspiring work. I think one thing that stood out to me from this panel is this idea of connection and community, and basically how every community experiences mental health in a different way, has different stigmas, and so we need to work within these systems. So that brings me to our next segment, which is a special message from one of my fellow fellow young leaders for the SDGs, Stephen Kulamushi Mutanda, reflecting on how sport can inspire inclusion, resilience, and hope for young people everywhere. I think we'll wait for the photo op before playing the video because I want people to hear Stephen's message.

We'll give—

Let's give them like 2 seconds. Okay. Some technical issues, so the video is going to play after our next segment. So instead, we will move on to segment 3, led by UNHCR, which explores the role of sport in supporting refugee and displaced youth. Around the world, millions of people have experienced displacement, conflict, and forced migration. As a Palestinian with family roots in Gaza, this conversation is particularly close to me. For young people in Gaza, displacement, loss, and prolonged security are not abstract concepts. They shape their everyday lives, their mental well-being, identity, and their ability to imagine a future. And this is true for displaced young people and refugees in many different contexts around the world. Displacement is often discussed through numbers, categories, and legal definitions, but for young people, it is lived through interrupted routines, teens, separated communities, uncertainty, and the search for somewhere to feel safe, recognized, and at home. We know that sport cannot undo displacement, but it can offer continuity, connection, and moments of joy and agency, and create a space where young people are defined not only by what they have lost, but are able to build relationships, express themselves and imagine what comes next. So with that, please join me in welcoming our distinguished panelists.

Thank you very much, our host, Sarba. I welcome you to this exciting panel discussion which will highlight the role of football as On refugee youth mental health and well-being, which is led by UNHCR, with inputs from the Global Refugee Youth Network. The UNHCR Global Trend Report published in June that of more than 51 million refugees in the world, almost 40 percent are. Children and youth. Young people who are forced to flee their homes because of the war and persecution face specific mental health and well-being issues. At least 1 in 5 living in conflict-affected or displacement settings have clinically significant mental health issues. Men, of course, experience the impact of displacement and war on their mental health and psychosocial well-being, but not all distress is mental health condition. While the most pressing need is to ensure that young refugees have access to basic mental health and health services, football as well will as we will hear during this panel, can support in different ways. My name is Kwiwukajak from Rwanda, where I'm a youth advocate on sexual reproductive health and rights and the founder of Informed Future Generations. I will be your moderator on this panel. Joining me are 2 are 2 members of soccer team Without Borders who are Ediya Kevi and Hajar Abufazir. Ediya is a high school student, soccer player, and certified referee. She was born in Uganda and raised in USA. She's dedicated to using football as a tool for social change, advocating for youth empowerment, gender equality, and fair play on global scale. Hadjar is a former co-captain of Afghanistan Women's National Football Team, a refugee advocate, and the founder of Tawana. Now she's based in USA. She serves as Senior Program Coordinator and Soccer Coach with Soccer Without Borders, where she empowers refugees and immigrant youth through sports. We also joined by Karen Jackson and Stephen Reynold. Karen is from Vancouver, Canada, is a humanitarian and professional. Award-winning portrait artist who focused on using contemporary art to create social change and make the world a better place. A former athlete, Carrick is one of the most commissioned artists by professional athletes globally. Stephen is a global hotspot at UNHCR, where he works closely with sport ecosystem and UNHCR operation to unlock the potential of sports contribute to improved opportunities and well-being of refugee globally. This panel is structured like a football game where we will be having 2 halves, a halftime energizer, Extra time and final whistle. Without further ado, let's start our clock. Count with me.

5.

Count with me, guys. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Our first The first half is started. In this first half of this panel, I would like to explore how access to football and opportunities through football contribute to refugee youth mental health and well-being. Our first panelist is Edea. Could you tell us about your journey from Uganda to U.S.?

Yes.

What or how soccer have provided space to you?

My journey from Uganda to the United States, I really don't remember because of how young I came here. But from the stories I hear from my mom, I know that my mother brought me here to— for a safer place and to have better opportunities. Soccer provided a safe space for me by accepting me for who I am and teaching me to be confident on and off the field, and also teaching participants that are younger than me to also be confident in playing the sports. From my youth journey of being a referee, I was being a mentor for these kids and teaching them how to be confident, even though the girls were degraded by the boys and said they can't play the sport. But I told the girls, I'm on the soccer team. I started off playing on an all-boys team with one other girl. But as time went on, I got more confident in the game. And in middle school, I started playing on an all-girls team. And in high school, I'm now playing in an all-girls team in an all-girls league. Also being influenced by my coach here and helping— she helping me to become more confident and influence me— influencing me to become a better person with my teammates.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing your experience, but we'd like to just really know how has it been from being a participant, youth leader, to a referee, and how it has impacted you?

It impacted me. It impacted me by— it wasn't an easy journey. Over the time, I had to get used to it. I had to talk to a lot of people because from the other kids, like mostly the boys, you know, being a girl on an all-boys team, it's not really easy. So having the one coach that I did have being a male telling me that I can still play on the team, And influencing me to stay on the pitch, also putting me in the game full-time, kind of showed me a new perspective, telling me that I'm a girl and I could do what I want to do. For the referee, I tell the girls even if they're losing or even if the game is really hard or they think the team is hard, I tell them to keep going because the same thing happens to me when I play in my games. I think that I can't do it. But with my teammates' help, I know we could do it. And as time goes on, most of the kids come up to me and they tell me, oh, this was a great opportunity. And I know they have tournaments. And these tournaments, they get really upset. And I used to be upset, too, when I used to play in the middle school league. But with me, it was more of a challenge because I had to play play on a team with both girls and boys, and always had— they always had to have 2 girls on the field. So sometimes you weren't always playing. But now for the girls, they're— it's an all-girls league, so they're always playing. So they have the opportunity to be on the field and to show other kids, other little girls, that they can play.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. It is very, very, very interesting, and we would like to go to your coach, Hadjar. As— in your role as a Senior Program Coordinator at Soccer Without Borders, how have you seen readership positively impact the mentors of young people.

Thank you so much. Hello, everybody. I'm so glad to be here with all of you. I have seen, as a refugee myself who has been displaced in the United States for a few years, I have seen how important it is for young refugees to be seen not only as a participant but as a leader. At Soccer Without Borders, we intentionally create programs to our youth become captains, coaches, referees, and role models. Those experiences have powerful impact on their life, and especially for mental health and well-being. When young people are trusted with responsibilities, they gain confidence, sense of belonging, purpose. Our youth we work— we have seen, they come from many countries and we are serving over like 56 countries in our city, Baltimore. And they have been— experienced trauma, loss, and isolation. The leadership experience, they— helps them to shift from their identity they received from someone who received receiving the support to giving to the community back. I have watched quiet players who came to our programs into confident leaders who mentor other younger generation or younger siblings and speak in community events and advocate for themselves. That transformation built resilience, strengths, and connection. Give them hope for a future. For me, that's one of the most powerful forms of well-being, not— is not just feeling supported, but feeling capable and valued.

Thank you very much. Hadia, for sharing with us how good leadership really supports mental health of youth refugees and their well-being. But building on what you said, I would like just to ask you, as a former co-captain of Afghanistan Women's National Football team and through your ongoing support to Afghan women and girls? What lessons have you learned on promoting mental health and well-being of girls and women through football?

Thank you. One of the biggest lessons is football is much more than a game. It's about creating safe space where girls and women are belong, be heard, and believe in themselves. Football gave me confidence, purpose, and a community. At the time we— I started football in Afghanistan, we have been told that this is not for girls, and they stopped us to play. Through my work, I have seen that those same benefits remain true even for those who have been displaced or forced to be in another country or in another city to rebuild their lives. Mental health starts with connection. When girls step into the fields, they build friendships, trust, and sense of identity. They learn resilience, Through both victories and loss, they realize they're stronger than they have been taught. For those who have experienced conflict, displacement, discrimination, simply having a team that believes in them can be life-changing. Representation matters. When girls see women coaching, leading, refereeing, telling stories that reflect their own experience, that begin to see new possibilities for themselves. Football gave them not only voice but also the confidence to use it. Ultimately, promoting mental health through football is not just about physical activities. It is about creating environment where every youth, especially girls, feel safe, valued, connected, and empowered to shape their own future.

Thank you very much, Adra and Ediya. This really shows us how football can be a game changer for the refugee youth mental health and well-being. Now it's halftime, so we have prepared some of the questions. We all know FIFA Men's World Cup 2026 is in its last stages. We have 2 teams. We have Spain. Spain is in red. Slide, please.

Yes.

Then we want just to see the energy as the community of supporters. There is 2 teams, Spain in red and Argentina in white. So for those who are supporting one of those teams will be just clapping or stomping their feet. So let's go. For those who are supporting Spain in red, clap.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Then for those who are supporting Argentina in white, I can see depending to the energy showed, Spain high probably will win, but let's wait. I have another question which is very, very interesting. There are 4 teams which have joined FIFA Men's World Cup by their first time. So we just want to see which was more interesting and inspiring. For the first team, the same we did for the first question, you will be clapping or stomping your feet. So for those who have seen this— is it Pakistan?

Yes.

Use Pakistan as the most inspiring team, clap your hands or stomp your feet. Then those for Curaçao. It's fine to clap for any of the teams. We'll just judge like that. Then for those who were for— who have found that Jordan, Team Jordan was—

Very inspiring.

How about those who were for Cap Verde? We can now relate, depending on the energy shown in the audience, that Cape Verde was the most inspiring team which joined in their first time in the FIFA Men's World Cup. Now we are going for The second half, so you can count with me. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Let's go.

In the second half, we are going to be discussing with the panelists especially who are much more experienced, who are shaping how refugee youth can be— can have a good platform where they can be promoting their mental health and well-being. For this, we are going to start with Jackson.

Hi.

You painted the game-changing Raven, which has been on display in this building for the duration of FIFA Men's World Cup. Why did you decide to paint this piece, and what about the— what about the team inspires you as an artist?

So is it up?

Can it go up?

Okay, so I painted 11 footballers, 7 of whom played in this previous— in this current World Cup, and they all have backgrounds of forcible displacement. And we were— I was working with the UNHCR trying to come up with a concept that included kids, that included refugees, that talked about, you know, the 118 million people that are forcibly displaced currently, and how can we communicate this through art in a way that it can reach every person on the planet. And so I came up with the idea of each footballer actually being painted alongside their younger self in front. Teams usually come out ahead of a game, sing the national anthem, and they come out with a team of children, except the child is them. 7 of these players didn't have any photos when they were little, so I'm like frantically like painting them as adults and then like using a bit of, you know, AI in cases, but mostly focusing on taking elements of their face as an adult and putting it on them as a child and transforming them. But it was, it was really, really cool. You're gonna see the piece in a second, but yeah, so that was the basis.

That's really interesting. How then I can ask you the second question, which is asking like, how can art and sport complement each other and strengthen storytelling in support of improved mental health and well-being of young people who are forced to flee their homes?

Yeah, so children's art and football should be understood also as resistance. Resistance is presented not only as political protest, but also as everyday acts that preserve identity, dignity, memory, and hope under oppressive conditions. Afonso Davies had no choice over whether he was born in a refugee camp or not, but when he was— when he stepped foot on a field, he had agency, power, and had a way to express himself. And right now he's a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, so every time he steps on the pitch for Canada, he's representing 118 million people. And so that's the power of football. And the power of art, I'll tell you a quick story. I did a project 10 years ago with a Syrian refugee family when I was a teacher for 5 seconds, a student teacher. And we looked at the Syrian Civil War, and then we had a volunteer family come in who had just fled Syria and gotten asylum in Canada, resettled in Surrey, BC, Canada. And they wanted to do something to help us combat Islamophobia and xenophobia. corresponding with the 25 million refugees— or 25,000 refugees that Trudeau was having come to BC, Canada. And there was a baby and there was a 2-year-old. And my students were like, let's take photos of them and then they get to decide what part of the face they want to show. So we chose the eyes to have anonymity, to protect them while giving them an opportunity and a platform to communicate who they were. And so there was this little boy too, and he's like super bored. He's looking around, rolling his eyes. The adults are talking, like, why am I here? You know? And I don't speak Arabic, but I do speak child. I speak kid. So I run over and grab some pastels and some paper, and I put them in front of him. And he's like— and I'm like— You guys, within 30 minutes, there were 10 masterpieces.

Okay?

He's just going like a madman drawing. And then it was his turn to take a photo, and my student tried to gently take his colors and his pictures, and he— like, it was a death grip. He was not letting go of those. And so he's like this. Now he's frowning, he's starting to cry. We're like, okay, okay, okay. So he goes up for his photo, he's still gripping his pictures, and his dad tells me it's the first time he's ever painted. It's the first time he's ever colored. So he had this world of emotion, this whole world inside of him that had no way to express it, and he finally did. And then when we were leaving, his dad turned to the translator who said to me, please tell her that maybe one day in Canada my child can be an artist. And so that's the power of art and football.

Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Jackson. For those who are helping us to change the slides, we can play a short video which shows how game Can be changing mental health and well-being of young people. It's a short— Reflecting on this video, we are going to receive Stefan from UNHCR, a global lead on sport who engages sports with— who use sport to engage youth refugees to promote their mental health and well-being. So I would like to ask him some of— few questions so that we can be exploring how his leadership really is promoting the refugee youth mental health and well-being. Stefan, UNHCR is a global humanitarian organization that provides life-saving assistance to people forced to flee from their homes because of war or persecution. Why is it interested in football, and how can football be more than a game for refugee youth?

Thanks, Jacques, for the question. Thanks for the other panelists. You've made it hard to finish. You've all been really good, and you haven't left me with a lot to say, actually. Thank you for that. But football and the Men's and Women's World Cup, it captivates, as you all know. It captivates the imagination of billions of people around the world. The same if you've ever traveled to a refugee camp while there's a World Cup going on, you'll understand that that includes refugees. And so UNHCR, to be to the point, is interested in football because refugees are interested in football. And we understand that it's more than a game, it can be more than a game because it can actually protect, it can defend the rights of refugees, it can provide a safe space for them to play. It can build confidence and contribute to improved MHPSS, mental health and psychosocial support. It can also include, it can promote the inclusion of refugees. It can build relationships, strengthen relationships, it can build trust, connection between refugees and their host communities. So, it's a really powerful tool to promote the protection and inclusion of young refugees.

Thank you very much, Stephen. Refugees are often portrayed negatively in Social media, how can football and initiatives like Game Changing Team contribute to changing this narrative?

So UNHCR conducts an annual survey to gauge public support and attitudes towards refugees. We just published our most recent survey this week. The results are consistent with previous years. Around 66% of respondents across 29 countries agreed that people fleeing from war and persecution should be able to seek refuge in another country. Interestingly, the survey highlights that younger people continue to express more positive views than older generations. Almost half of Gen Z respondents believe that refugees would successfully integrate compared with 39% of baby boomers. So through a study also of football fans' attitudes towards refugees in Spain, the UK, and Germany, we know that younger and more engaged football fans are supportive of refugees when they're given authentic ways to do so. Initiatives like charity matches, fan-led fundraising, or club-driven community initiatives don't just raise funds, they also build awareness and connection. When football clubs, brands, and footballers engage their fans on the refugee cause, this becomes a powerful platform to change the narrative and build connection. When footballers with lived experience of forced displacement are empowered to advocate on behalf of refugees, they build awareness and trust. So this is why the Game Changing team is so powerful, because it challenges preconceived notions of refugees and highlights what is possible when people who are forced to flee from their homes are met with welcome, dignity, and opportunity.

Thank you very much, Stephen. As the match is in time, sorry, as the match is in extra time, I would like to ask our panelists, just using 30 seconds, how they would like to make football become a game changer for refugee youth mental health and well-being. And while panelists are responding, I would like the audience to just scan the QR code there on the screen so that you can be providing that recommendation on how football could become a game changer for refugee youth mental health and wellbeing. Be short, stick to the point, but make sure it's brief. Starting from Edea.

Some advice I would give to the youth is to be open-minded and to keep trying. Even though you have people trying to degrade you, I would tell you to keep going, push through, because in the end you'll have bigger opportunities ahead.

As a former refugee and now as a coach at Soccer Without Borders, I have seen that the biggest impact doesn't come from winning games. It comes from helping young people rebuild confidence, create friendship, and feel that they belong. Many refugee youth have experienced loss, displacement, and uncertainty. A team gives them stability, trusted mentor, and a community that says, you matter here. My recommendation is to invest not only in football programs, but in coaches who are trained to create inclusive, trauma-informed environment and a leadership opportunity that allow young refugees to become mentor, role model themselves. When refugee youth are given the chance to play, to lead, and be heard, football doesn't just change the game, it changes

Yeah, so I actually have quite a personal experience with the power of football to change lives.

Football saved my life. At 15, I was diagnosed with idiopathic anaphylaxis. I became allergic to all food on earth. Anytime I ate, my throat would close and it'd be a near-death experience. I was told I was going to die. And there were no cures, there was no nothing. And so I was trying out for the team below national team in Canada at the time. And if I didn't have a field to go to in between hospital visits, in between near-death experiences, I wouldn't be with you guys today. It became— I wasn't a sick kid on a field, I was a powerful center back.

So that's—

this is— I know inherently the power of football. And one of our game changers in the painting, Bernard Kamungu, recently said, I want people to see me not just as a refugee, but for what I'm capable of. So more opportunities for refugee youth to express themselves artistically, kinesthetically on a field, I think, can save lives.

Thank you.

Yeah, my recommendation would be to ensure that every young refugee has access to basic mental health and health services, number one, and then number two, to provide pathways and opportunities through football so that being a refugee is only a chapter in a person's life and not the whole life story.

Thank you very much for all those recommendations, and from the audience, we have received that what they are recommending most is to provide the spaces of belonging and growing community and possibilities by creating opportunities for families to come together and allow caregivers to share their perspectives. Thank you. On those inspiring words, we call on football ecosystem to become a game changer for refugees' youth mental health and well-being by supporting safe spaces, opportunities, and leadership for refugee youth, creating pathways through football that inspire hope, investing in mental health support, positive role models, and positive On that, this panel and march draws to a close. Thank you to the young refugees who contributed to this discussion. Thank you to the panelists. Thank you to the audience. Thank you very much for the organizers. This was a very important discussion. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jacques, and thank you to our panelists. Are we playing a video?

Okay. For 90 minutes, you're not a refugee.

You're a player, a leader, and a part of something that is huge. It becomes therapy for a lot of refugees. It promotes inclusivity, teaches discipline and responsibility towards yourself and those around you. If we want football to truly change mental health, we should invest more on safe places for youth to play, bring professionals from the mental health department, and inclusive funding that also prioritizes girls, persons with disabilities, and programs in refugee camps. Football can assist with mental health as long as we treat it more than just a game.

I'm not saying it's going to erase everything, but it can definitely heal it.

So let's make the game work for every young person out there.

Thank you to our panelists. Thank you to Jacques, my fellow young leader for the SDGs, for moderating, and for all the panelists for sharing their experiences on women empowerment, the power of art, the power of football. It was really an inspiring conversation. Thank you. And now we have another video lined up from another young leader for the SDGs, Stefan, who couldn't be here today but wants to reflect on the role of sport to inspire inclusion, resilience, and hope for people everywhere. So with that, we'll play his video.

How powerful is basketball?

Refugee is not a barrier, but refugee is a status that can can make you become very big. My name is Stéphane Koulimouchi, 19 years old. We are at Mark India Military Courts. This is our basketball court where we used to train and make our session. We came to celebrate, to play, to show what basketball did to us as refugees. As Nelson Mandela said, sport is a very big tool to change the world.

3, 2, 1. Go!

Most of kids are coming from a country where they have war. Like me personally, I'm from the Republic Democratic of Congo. We are facing many security issues. When we are here, we are feeling in peace. When arriving here as a refugee, I found many challenges. I see how easy it is for young refugees to lose control, using stuff that can spoil his future. As they lack activities, as they lack what to do, they're just staying at home and chilling, and now they start using bad things.

I'm a refugee from Somalia. things that are spoiling their future, like drugs, spending time in house parties, and this is blocking their future. Resettlement is the solution that is given by UNHCR for refugees, but it's a long process. It used to take 10 to 30 years. Now imagine a kid that has 9 years reaching Uganda as a new refugee. Due to the high cost of education, to the lack of opportunity that refugees have, he will stay just a term and he will spends more than 10 years just at home and is spoiling a full period of his life just without doing anything.

That is the problem that the academy is trying to solve. We started this program because you will see this area, it's where most refugees are staying. Me and my teammate Jonathan, with the background that we have as professional basketball in Congo. We wanted to use our passion to change the life of those refugees by creating an academy. So far we have been training more than 100 players. We have been connecting some to opportunities and others will be connected soon because we are keeping building our network to make this long-term impact. We don't just build basketballers, we are building leaders, we are building people and, and players who can one day motivate, who can one day manage their life, and who can one day become

I wake up very early in the morning, then I came here to train, to perform myself, because I'm also a basketballer and I have a dream to become a professional and reach somewhere. And after I go back home, I go to the university. I'm also a student, I'm doing management and entrepreneurship. After that, I come back to the academy to train.

I'm a student here at the academy.

Since 17, I'm struggling myself, and at 11 I lost my father. So it means like I'm not someone who used to complain on my challenges. I'm someone who used to use my challenges as fuel. When I saw the opportunity of Young Leader for the SDGs, I can apply for this opportunity. It's for advocate our voice of refugees, to advocate to other refugee youth to believe in themselves, to carry projects that they have, and to show them that everything Everything is possible. Age, barriers, your status, your nationality, where you come from is not the limit. We have the right to feel included as everyone. When we are flying from our countries to end insecurity, we— yes, of course, we are leaving income, we are leaving house, but we are carrying talent with us.

Thank you very much.

I want to expand this project to other slums and refugee camps that are around Uganda and to also give others who are a bit forgotten, to give them the same chance. Now we want to bring a sustainable and a long-term impact where everyone can connect to this program.

Thank you, Stefan, for that powerful message. Stefan had hoped to join us here in person today, but unfortunately was unable to obtain the visa to travel here, and this absence in itself is a reminder that not all young people have equal access and freedom of movement. But Stefan's work is powerful and reminds us that young people are not only participants in the sport, but also leaders, advocates, and changemakers who use sports to strengthen their communities, promote inclusion, and create hope in the face of adversity. We have now heard how sport can help rebuild connection and confidence for refugees and displaced youth, but we have also been reminded that these outcomes are not automatic. Sport can create belonging, but without deliberate attention to safety, rights, and representation, it can also reproduce the exclusions that young people face elsewhere. Access alone is therefore not enough. Young people must be able to participate without having to hide any part of who they are, fearing discrimination or being treated as less worthy of protection and respect. Our final spotlight session of the morning, held by ILGA World and the Sport and Rights Alliance, will explore how inclusion, dignity, and human rights are essential foundations for young people's mental health and well-being in sport. Please join me in welcoming our moderator, my fellow Young Leader for the SDGs, Aishwarya, together with today's distinguished speakers.

Thank you.

Hi, everyone. How's it going? Good afternoon. So, welcome to this session, Inclusion First: Why Access and Belonging Are Foundations for Youth Mental Health in Sports. The event is hosted by Sports and Rights Alliance, and ILGA World. My name is Aishwarya, my pronouns are she/her. I'm a violence against women researcher, co-founder of nonprofit Heart of Nepal, and one of the UN Young Leaders for the SDGs. We are here at the One World, One Game, One Goal event to talk about how sports can advance youth mental health and well-being. And in this session, we're going to specifically talk about what sport needs at the foundational level, that is inclusion, safety, and equity, before it can become that catalyst for well-being. It is my pleasure to announce our panel today, which includes Andrea Florence, the Executive Director of Sports and Rights Alliance, which is a global coalition of civil society organizations working to advance human rights on and off the field. We have Danish Husain Yar, an Afghan woman marathon runner and Free to Run ambassador who advocates for the rights of Afghan women and girls to participate in sports. We have Lily Donglai Rosengard, who is a senior advocacy specialist at ILGA World, the International LGBTI Association. We have Minky Warden, who is the director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, which is a leading international NGO that investigates, documents, and reports human rights abuses in over 100 countries. So before we get started, I'd like to introduce the interactive portion of our session today. We would like to hear from you, the audience. What barriers to inclusion and access have you seen or experienced yourself that are keeping young people in your community out of sports? You can scan the QR on the code right on the screen, both screens here, or enter the code on menti.com and share your answers, and we'll go over the results at the end. The QR code will be available on the slides throughout the session, so please feel free to add more thoughts as they cross your mind. So let's get started. Andrea, let's hear from you. In your role as the Executive Director at the Sports and Rights Alliance, what have you learned through your work with sports governing bodies like FIFA and the International Olympic Committee about why inclusion and equity are so important to building mental health in sports?

Thank you very much, Aishwarya, and thank you, everyone. for being here. So, as it was mentioned before, sport can be extraordinary, a place where young people build confidence, identity, and community. Yet sport cannot be a force for good in large— larger society while doing harm within its own sphere. When exclusion and discrimination enters the field, the promise of sport as a powerful force for good collapses. Through our work at the Sporting Rights Alliance, we see both sides of sport every day. And right now, sport is being weaponized to harm an entire group of people who are already marginalized and excluded— transgender, diverse, and intersex kids who just want to play sport. And to learn a bit more about our work, I just wanted to start with a short video.

You may have heard of the recent ban on trans women and girls in sports, or you may have seen one of the $160 million worth of ads paid for by right-wing groups claiming the need to protect women's sports while the real threats to women and girls remain unaddressed and underfunded. But despite these attacks and lies, our communities are strong and we are fighting back. Because we all love sports and we know there's plenty of room on the field for all kinds of talent, for all kinds of bodies, for all kinds of athletes. Because we know sport is too important to our sense of belonging, of community, of self, to leave anyone on the sidelines. Because we know that trans, gender-diverse, and intersex athletes are athletes just like all of us. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, Sometimes we just want to play. Trans, gender-diverse, and intersex women and girls belong in sports and everywhere. Ida Hobbit Day 2025, celebrating the power of communities to resist, support, and transform. Like and share this video to show your support.

Thank you. We are at a critical juncture. Earlier this year, the International Olympic Committee adopted a new policy reintroducing sex testing of all women and girls and putting a blanket ban on transgender and intersex from competing in women's category. The policy also includes language that revives harmful myths about women's bodies, implying that menstruation, gestation, or hip width make women less capable. Policies like this one harm all women and girls. Sex testing does nothing to address the real challenges facing women in sport. And policies like this one do not protect women. On the contrary, they undermine women and girls' mental health and distract from real threats women and girls face in sport: abuse, harassment, and violence remain pervasive across sport, from grassroots to elite level, and the young people who report harm often face retaliation, disbelief, or institutional cover-ups. Instead of removing barriers to women and girls to access sports, this policy is adding to them. Across our program, the Athletes Network for Safer Sports, we connect survivors, whistleblowers, and allies for inclusion, well-being, and diversity in sport. We've worked with Afghan women footballers who were forced to flee their own country, French football— basketball players who were banned from sport simply because they chose to wear the hijab, and now transgender, diverse, and intersex athletes who are being systematically excluded. These are not isolated stories. They are symptoms of a deeper governance structure that prioritized medals over mental health, that prioritized profit over people. But powerful sports bodies, companies, and states cannot claim ownership over something that was never theirs. Sport belongs to all of us. It belongs to every young person who finds joy, confidence, or connection in play. It belongs to everyone who finds in sports their identity, and belonging. It is part of what makes us human. The Sporting Rights Alliance exists to unite a diverse movement of those who care not just about winning, but winning well. Those who believe that sports' power to do good in the world depends on how it treats those people within it. A different sporting culture is not just necessary, it is possible. As we gather here today, we have an opportunity to build a movement, A movement towards a future where every young person in all their diversity is welcome, safe, and celebrated on and off the pitch. When sport chooses inclusion and belonging, it becomes a true catalyst for a more equitable and healthy world. That is the future we're working towards, because sport moves the world, and so do we. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Andrea, for setting the scene for us and highlighting the need of solidarity, because we know attacks on the rights of one group are attacks on all of us. Now we go to Danish, who is an Afghan woman runner and advocate with Free to Run. Danish, can you tell us a bit about your experience with gender discrimination in sports in Afghanistan and why sport is so important for women and girls who are being systematically excluded from public life.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak, because in my country, Afghanistan, women are not allowed to share their opinions in public. Every morning in Afghanistan, Before the sun was fully up, I woke up to take my bicycle out for a ride. That was the only time I could do it, when the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif city were still quiet and empty, and nobody could stare at me. And if a man did stare at me, I made sure I was fast enough to pass him.

Hmm.

This was when I was 12 years old, even before the Taliban took over. When I was 14, I learned about running through an incredible organization called Free to Run. Free to Run introduced the girls in my school to the empowering world of running and sports. Those girls had never been told that their bodies belonged to them, that movement could be joy instead of risk. I fell in love with the simple idea of running freely. But I had no idea where to start. I had never seen a woman run in my life. There were no professionals or coaches I could ask and no role models from my own country to look up to. So instead, so instead, I watched videos of people from other countries running online, imagining what it might feel like to be one of them. At 18, I escaped Afghanistan to Bangladesh after the Taliban took over. 2 years later, I got into Cornell University and moved, and moved to the United States. It was only then that I ran outside freely for the first time in my life. I felt the sun on my face, the wind blowing through my hair, and my feet hitting the pavement step by step. Beneath it all was a hope and energy I had never felt before. I ran with no fear and no one to hide from. I didn't have to wake up before sunrise so no one would see me. For the first time in my life, I was free. It took me 20 long years to have this freedom, this aliveness. It has been even longer for my mother, who's still in Afghanistan. She only swam once in her lifetime and has kept that memory in her heart ever since. Freedom of movement is a dream for millions of girls and women globally. The ability to play their favorite sport without fear. This is the part of a sport we do not talk about enough. We talk about medals, championships, and trophies, but for so many women and girls, The first victory is simpler than that. It's being allowed to move and to be seen in public as who they are, regardless of gender or identity. For nearly half a decade, Afghan girls have been banned from schools and universities. When Afghan girls cannot attend school beyond 6th grade, talking about sports might seem the least— like the least of our concerns. But playing sports equals confidence, trust, and the understanding of one's body on a deep level. The culture of a sport teaches women to lead, to advocate for their rights, and to stand up for themselves. That is exactly why building this culture is so necessary and urgent in countries where women are confined to homes. But change like that starts with an example. Because how can we dream of something we have never seen? So I decided to be that example. This November, I will run the New York City Marathon as one of the very few Afghan women who have ever had that chance.

Thank you.

But this means more to me than a personal record. It's about sending a message. We need more women and girls represented in global races and competitions so that the next girl who looks up has an example of how to be free. Thank you.

Thank you, Danish. Your story is incredibly powerful and such a reminder of how important sports is and why we cannot stand by while women and girls are being systematically excluded from it. Now, to learn about another issue that affects women and girls' inclusion in sports, we will hear from Lily, who is a senior specialist at ILGA World. Lily, can you tell us more about the current reality for trans gender-diverse, and intersex athletes, and why we should be concerned about these attacks on their right to play.

Good afternoon, everyone. I am thrilled to be here with you all to tell you a little bit about some of the barriers to mental health for all in sport, particularly for transgender, diverse, and intersex athletes. So, I just wanted to begin with a some context on the issue. So, many people may have heard in the news about trans athletes in sport as if this is a new issue, as if this is the topic that we should all be focusing on today. And we have to be aware that this is a strategically selected area that those anti-rights actors have selected as a so-called wedge issue under the guise of fairness. And this topic has been selected as something to split our movement and to make us confused about what equality and rights really means and looks like. And we have to be aware that this fundamentally dehumanizes transgender, gender-diverse, and intersex people. It is also under the guise, more broadly, of a paternalistic concept of so-called protecting women which upholds the patriarchy, detracts from poor record on women's issues, sexual violence in sport, and erodes LGBTI rights more generally. It is due to a misunderstanding as well as disinformation and general lack of understanding of the science and what is inherent and/or disproportionate advantage in sport. We also have to be aware that transgender and intersex women and girls are too often conflated in these conversations and face different barriers to access when it comes to their right to participate in sport. And my colleague, Minky, will speak a little bit more after about the rights of intersex athletes and the harmful and degrading sex testing that the International Olympic Committee has just reinstated. Okay, so we have to recognize that when we talk about sport, Every single person deserves a right to participate. This includes all women and girls, including all women and girls who are also transgender, as well as gender-diverse folk, to make sure that we're free from abuse, violence, and discrimination of any form. Women and girls do face a range of serious human rights violations in sport, from pay inequity to access to resources to well-documented sexual, physical, and psychological violence and abuse. From cisgender men coaches, trainers, and sponsors, etc. It does a severe injustice to survivors of violence and abuse in sport to create distractions from these very real forms of violence by presenting trans women in sport as a violent threat. We have to remember that fairness and inclusion are not at odds with one another. Sports can be a safe and fair place whilst ensuring to include trans and intersex women and girls, and gender-diverse folk. So, I'm going to go through a few myths and bust those myths with you today, but let's remember that all women and girls in sport have a right to health, safety, privacy, and bodily autonomy. Okay, so we have a slide that goes into some of the myths, and I'll take you through those. To begin with, there is this myth that transgender women and girls have an inherent advantage in sport simply because they are transgender, and this is not rooted in evidence and dangerously questions and erases all bodily diversity within sport, including that of cisgender women. The scientific research indicates that bodies are complex systems and that there is not one discrete biomarker that easily allows easy comparison of athletes' bodies to each other in terms of performance. An athlete must be looked at holistically, as there is not one single factor that makes an athlete great. If we just move to the next slide that has the myths, that would be fantastic. We have to remember that there are so many aspects that can make access to sport fair and equal. For example, access to financial and material resources, from infrastructure to equipment, nutrition, time to train, and higher salaries. These are all associated with greater advantage in sport. Yet, when it comes to the public discourse, only specific biomedical factors are policed under a mandate of so-called fairness in elite sport.

Okay.

Another myth that we're constantly told in the media is that this is a new issue. Meanwhile, policies have been in place to support fairness and inclusion at the highest level of sport for decades. It is the politicization and the dehumanization of transgender people, especially trans women and girls, which has led to an uptick in exclusionary policies, from executive orders in this country when Donald Trump came to his second presidency banning trans women athletes in sport, to the recent Supreme Court case ruling that came out just at the end of last month upholding the ban on trans athletes in schools. We also must know that this kind of discrimination disproportionately impacts Black and brown women and girls from the Global South whose bodies are consistently policed due to racist norms. A further myth is that the research shows that trans women and girls should not participate. However, this is not the case. This is methodologically flawed and biased research which has been used to justify banning transgender women and girls from sport. Sexism and transphobia in sport are issues that are deeply related and intersected, and we have to know and look at this discrimination within the context of this intersection. It's also a myth that cisgender women need to be protected from transgender women in sport, which again is a harmful myth that we have to bust. And finally, there is this idea that cis women do not support trans inclusion. We know that in the feminist movement and amongst women's rights advocates around the world that we support fairness and inclusion in all its forms, and this includes recognizing the fundamental fact that trans women are women and intersex women are women. So it is absolutely critical that when you hear these topics discussed on the playing field, in school, when it comes to conversations around the dinner table around transgender inclusion in sport and intersex inclusion in sport, we remain firm and strong in saying we all support one another, and transgender, gender-diverse, and intersex women belong in sport just like everyone else.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lily. That was really helpful. There's room on the field for everyone in all of our diversity, and we all deserve to take part in the community building and mental health benefits of sports. For our final panelist, we'll now go to Minky, who is the Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch. Minky, you've done extensive research on sex testing and its widespread harm to all women and girls. Can you tell us more about that?

Thanks very much. Greetings, everyone. As we've heard today, sport is where young people learn to be active and healthy, where they find friends, build support networks, and belong. Young athletes learn how to win, but perhaps more important, they also learn how to lose and how to get back on the field of play. As Dr. Hadjer Abulfazl said on our last panel, that resilience is good for the mind as well as for the body. It's why sport can be such a powerful catalyst for young people's mental health, and well-being. It's also why, at Human Rights Watch, we welcomed the October 2024 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights, Alexander Chantaki. That report affirmed the right of everyone to play sport, and it covered a lot of the topics that we have today: access, safety, equality, inclusion. We have documented the gaps in access, safety, and equality for women in sport, and we have advocated to end gender-based violence and exploitation that too many athletes endure. This is our 2020 report. They Are Chasing Us Away from Sport. I think you could say that the title actually says it all. The report documented human rights violations due to the policies of sex testing elite women athletes. Our central findings were that, first of all, sex testing, it happens only to women. There are no men and boys sex tested. Second, that over the decades that it happened in women's sports, it happened to tens of thousands of women and girls. And it was often based on racialized gender stereotypes. We found sex testing damages the lives and the health of women and girls who experienced it. And that to identify which athletes to target, sports authorities— and often, almost always men— subjected women and girls' bodies to scrutiny and has also required those who seemed suspect to undergo medical interventions, often unnecessary, or to be forced out of competition. These harms were not only physical, they were also psychological, and they can last a lifetime. In 2021, the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board adopted its Framework on Fairness, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination. This was an important precedent that moved the Olympic Movement away from the surveillance the invasions of privacy, and the harmful sex testing that inflicted decades of trauma and discrimination on women athletes. We saw why that framework matters at the Paris Olympics, when 2 women boxers faced an avalanche of abuse online and off while they were competing. But this year, as Andrea Florence explained, that progress has gone into reverse. In April, the International Olympic Committee announced it will sex test every woman and girl athlete at the Los Angeles Olympics. This decision emerged from a closed process, and it is still unclear how it will be implemented by federations. However, there is still time before the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 to engage with affected athletes, to listen to those athletes and to put in place policies and protections for them. Thank you.

Thank you, Minky.

Incredibly important and really shows how these attacks on trans and intersex athletes affect us all. Now we'll go back to our interactive poll. To see what all of you have experienced and observed as barriers to the inclusion of young people in sport in our communities. I went through all these answers, and one of the most common here is costs, funding, and money that is needed to access sports. High cost of sports, especially in underrepresented sports, is mentioned a lot. The next thing is fear of judgment, programs only being available to boys, some people being limited to follow only specific path that is written for them due to their personal situation, zero opportunities for anything, especially sports. If you're not from a connected background, family with so much resources to push you through, the path of sports, being from a small country, financial barriers, the culture not being welcome to LGBT kids. I think summing up, the most frequent we see here is funding. Thank you all for contributing to the poll. That is very interesting to hear. Now, we might have time to take about 1 or 2 questions. So if there's any questions from the audience, we can take 1 or 2. Anyone? If not, we have 1 from here. Okay, 1, just 1.

So my question is for You, sorry, I forgot your name, but my question was that how did you feel after making it possible?

I know this must be so, so hard being coming from Afghanistan, a place where girls are being so much tortured in some ways, and also they do not have access to playing games and whatsoever.

So what kind of advice do you have for other girls?

Because this is so inspiring, I think, because through sports and getting involved in things like that, this is so inspiring for me and I think a lot of other girls.

What advice do you have for other girls who might face the same kind of issues?

Thank you. Thank you for your question. What's your name? Ariana, beautiful name. So if there's one advice that I would say to every single Afghan girl inside Afghanistan or even outside of Afghanistan is that if there's a will, there's a way. Never lose hope and just keep going.

In the interest of time, we will now be wrapping it up. Thank you, everyone, for attending this session, and thank you again to all our panelists for sharing experiences. I think we've all learned today that sports can be extremely good for our mental health, well-being, and communities, but only when access, safety, and dignity are guaranteed. I think we are all feeling inspired, and now actually we have our closing call to actions here, which is to join the Athletes Network for Safe Sports. which is a program of the Sports and Rights Alliance, working to ensure a safer, more inclusive world of sports for all. You can scan the QR code on this next screen or go to sportsandrightsalliance.org to learn more and join the movement. Thank you so much, everybody.

Thank you so much to Aishwarya and our distinguished panelists for this really important and educational discussion as well. So, this final conversation has reminded us that sport can only fulfill its promise as a catalyst for youth mental health and well-being when every single young person is able to participate safely, equally, and with dignity. Throughout this morning, we've explored many dimensions of inclusion, from disability inclusion and social belonging to community mental health and stigma, refugee participation and human rights in sports. Across these different contexts, we have heard one consistent message: young people's well-being is shaped not only by their individual strength, but by the environments and the communities surrounding them. We have also been reminded that resilience should not be understood only as an individual responsibility. Young people are often called resilient when what they truly need are supportive communities, safe environments, and institutions that are willing to protect their dignity and rights. So as we prepare to conclude, I invite us to consider what each of us can do to create these kinds of environments within sport and beyond. Okay, I think there was supposed to be an additional slide, so I'll just wrap up here. I want to kind of bring it back. At the beginning, I mentioned that my— I don't work in sport, I work in space, but it is actually quite relevant, the things that we discussed today, Because working in space and sustainable development, I spend a lot of time thinking about systems and governance and the kind of futures that we hope to build and who they're serving. And space exploration may seem very distant, but it also teaches us a lot about what it means for an environment to not only be habitable, that you can survive there, but also to be able to thrive there and to live with safety, dignity, connection, and a future that benefits all of us as humankind. And I feel that the conversations we had today across the different contexts brought all of these questions down to a human scale, whether we're talking about a sports field, a school, a refugee community, or international institutions like the one we are currently in, the question is ultimately the same. Have we created the conditions in which people feel safe, valued, supported, and able to thrive? We know that sport is not a cure-all. It's not the answer to all of our problems, and it's not a substitute for protection, for justice, and professional support. But when it is grounded in care, inclusion, trauma awareness, and human rights, it can become an important part of a much wider ecosystem of healing and well-being. So on behalf of the United Nations Youth Office and all of our partners, I extend my sincere thanks to all of our moderators, our speakers, athletes, youth leaders, organizers, interpreters, everyone who really contributed to making this day as special as it was, and of course, to our special audience for participating as well. And I really hope that you carry these conversations forward within your own organizations and communities, regardless of the field that you are in, and continue asking not only how we can invite young people to participate in these spaces, but also how do we ensure that they genuinely belong. Thank you for joining us and enjoy the rest of the campaign. And maybe just to—

And a round of applause for Safa. There's programming in the lawn. You can grab lunch now.

There are some of the rooms that are going.

We have workshops. We have care space. So please enjoy all of those spaces.

Do not forget to eat.

We're gonna see you at the GA at 3 Thanks, everyone.

I just want to do this. Thanks for everyone keeping it on time. I didn't have to use the gavel, so—

Thank you.

Thank you.