www.olympic.org - Site Officiel du Mouvement Olympique
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE THROUGH SPORT
BRINGING JOY AND HOPE IN REFUGEE CAMPS
The IOC and the UNHCR have worked together since 1996 on sports projects for refugee camps and resettlement areas around the world. Basic sports equipment and recreational activities are offered to these deprived populations, composed mostly of children and young people who are particularly in need of leisure activities to overcome the idleness of their life in a camp. Sports activities are also organised to facilitate dialogue between refugees and local communities surrounding the camps. National Olympic Committees of the countries in which refugee camps are situated are, as much as possible, also associated with the projects.
GIVING IS WINNING
On the occasion of the Athens Olympic Games, the IOC launched a project of clothes collection among the athletes, officials and sponsors in favour of refugees. The project, which was organised in cooperation with the UNHCR and with the support of Schenker, the IOC's official freight agent, successfully gathered over 27,000 items that were distributed to refugees and internally displaced persons in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Azerbaijan and Kosovo. Solidarity among the Olympic Movement worked well, and helped to brighten up the lives of tens of thousands of young refugees.
Returnee students in Haykota
school in Eritrea receiving
sports equipment
copyright: UNHCR
"Refugee children and young refugee men and women wearing an Olympic athlete's sports clothes are receiving a gift of real joy. In the otherwise bleak and desolate life of a refugee camp, they know that the more fortunate in this world still care." Claude Marshall, UNHCR consultant and project coordinator.
There are currently over 17 million refugees, internally displaced persons, returning refugees and others in the world.
IDP child receives donation in
Afghanistan/copyright: UNHCR
Kandahar
SUPPORT TO MAJOR HUMANITARIAN CRISES
In parallel to its current programmes of humanitarian sports assistance, the IOC also supports, on an ad-hoc basis, important relief operations through donations of first aid and sports goods for populations affected by war, natural disasters and major catastrophes. As for most other IOC projects at community level, the NOCs of countries concerned are also involved in these initiatives.
Among the recent initiatives, the IOC made a special donation of humanitarian equipment including tents, blankets, buckets, soap and sandals in Darfur, Sudan, through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 2005.
It also supported the relief of tsunami victims in South-Eastern Asia through a donation to the ICRC and to the local sport community.