A/HRC/RES/18/23 Reaffirming the need to combat discrimination and intolerance where they occur within and outside the sporting context, Recalling Human Rights Council resolution 9/14 of 18 September 2008, in which the Council urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to take measures, in consultation with various international sporting and other organizations, to enable them to contribute to the struggle against racism and racial discrimination, Recognizing the imperative need to engage women and girls in the practice of sport for development and peace and, in this regard, welcoming activities that aim to foster and encourage such initiatives at the global level, Recognizing also that special attention needs to be paid to ensuring nondiscrimination, including the equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities, including their active participation in all aspects of society, including sports, Acknowledging the potential of sport and major sporting events to educate the youth of the world and to promote their inclusion through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires human understanding, tolerance, fair play and solidarity, Acknowledging also the benefits of regular sport, physical activity and play in the realization of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and as a means to prevent and treat illness and disease, Recalling General Assembly resolution 65/4 of 18 October 2010, on sport as a means to promote education, health, development and peace, in which the Assembly emphasized and encouraged the use of sport as a vehicle to foster development and strengthen education for children and young persons; prevent disease and promote health, including the prevention of drug abuse; empower girls and women; foster the inclusion and well-being of persons with disabilities; and facilitate social inclusion, conflict prevention and peacebuilding, Recalling also General Assembly resolution 64/4 of 19 October 2009, on the building of a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal and, in this context, welcoming the adoption on the same date of resolution 64/3, in which the Assembly invited the International Olympic Committee to participate in its sessions and work in the capacity of observer, Acknowledging the valuable contribution that the appeal launched by the International Olympic Committee for an Olympic Truce could make towards advancing the purposes and principles of the Charter, Recognizing the need to observe, within the framework of the Charter, the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively, throughout the period beginning with the start of the Games of the XXX Olympiad and ending with the closing of the XIV Paralympic Games, Welcoming the hosting of the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in the cities of London and Rio de Janeiro, respectively, the hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi and the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, and stressing the opportunity to make use of these events to promote awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights among those watching and participating and of how the principles of the Olympic Charter, aimed at, inter alia, nondiscrimination, equality, inclusion, respect and mutual understanding, relate to the Declaration and can translate into all aspects of society, 2