Before the three-day Forum got underway, Bouzou agreed with a recent declaration from the Olympic Summit expressing concerns over the growing politicisation of sport. 

Peace and Sport aims to bring about peace, using sport as the vehicle with which to do so. 

"We are always respecting the neutrality, always acting within the neutrality of sport, from the neutrality of Peace and Sport," Bouzou said. 

"We are very pragmatic.

"We are absolutely conscious that we have a political line, but this political line is neutrality.

"We can play with everybody, we can run programmes, wherever it is possible.

"Whatever the regime is, we can come and make kids enjoy the neutrality and universality of sport."

Bouzou was speaking here while several of Peace and Sport's Champions for Peace, high-level sportspeople personally committed to the peace through sport movement, were putting local schoolchildren through their paces. 

The Frenchman discussed how pivotal such Champions for Peace were to the organisation. 

"The role of the champions for peace is crucial," Bouzou said.

"They have demonstrated that equity can apply in society, equality of chances, and then you become an example, you become a role model, and you can spread the message that you can change your future.

"Of course, words have no meaning if there is no action, so there must be action to change the reality."

Bouzou then went on to discuss such action in more detail, while continuing to emphasise the need for political neutrality.

"We are not here to change or to judge people, we are here to make kids play with sport as a neutral tool," he said.

"And what we want is to foster dignity, foster the equality of chances, and make sure that at an individual and collective level these values can apply.

"We use our tools, we use our neutrality, and we use champions.

"We think that that sport is outside of traditional politics - it should be."

The Peace and Sport Forum continues tomorrow, concluding on Friday (December 13).