Guest Lecture by Arnaud Amouroux
March 12, 2019, at the Main Session Room, Faculty of Law, Universitas Islam Indonesia, UII’s Faculty of Law’s held a Guest Lecture on the topic “Sport as a catalyst for Social change: Aiming for the real gold”. The event was led by Ginanjar Gailea S.Pd., M.A. as the moderator invited Monsieur Arnaud Amouroux as the speaker in this Guest Lecture.
A former United Nations staff, with 12 years’ experience in the field of peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict resolution, Mr. Amouroux explained that sport can be ‘more than just a game’ and introduced the concept of ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ (SDP). Sport can serve as a ‘low-cost and high impact tool for social change’. Sport has the unique ability to transcend differences, connect people and elevate/inspire them. The presentation also addressed the recognition by the United Nations of sport as an important ‘enabler of sustainable development’, especially with regard to SDG 3 on Health, SDG 4 on Education and SDG 5 regarding Gender equality. Mr. Amouroux specifically referred to 4 domains where Indonesia could use sport-based approaches to tackle some of the challenges the country is faced with: need to invest in disaster risk reduction and preparedness; fostering tolerance and living-together; fighting sedentary and unhealthy behaviours and promoting open, safe and inclusive spaces as part of urban regeneration initiatives.
Mr. Amouroux also made a comparative review of the 1962 and 2018 Asian Games held in Indonesia noting the tangible and intangible legacies of each event. The successful organisation of the 2018 Asian Games is testimony to Indonesia’s ability to host even larger mega-sporting events, such as the Olympic Games, however this would require a fully integrated sustainability strategy within the candidacy proposal (i.e. focusing on generating social benefits for the communities after the event as well).
The lecture ended with a question and answer session given by UII Faculty of Law students, participants were actively involved in this session. One of them is the question raised by Rangga, “Changes in the times that have occurred at this time have affected changes in social activities carried out by children, particularly who used to be active in carrying out social activities through sports and gatherings but now they use their gadget or handphone to socialize. How does the government see this incident? “He concluded. Finally, the event was closed with the handed over of token of appreciation by Dodik Setiawan Nur Heriyanto S.H., M.H., LL.M., P.hD as Secretary of the International Program of the Faculty of Law, Universitas Islam Indonesia to the speaker.
