A Sports Coalition joins UNHCR and the International Olympic Committee to help young refugees discover their potential through sports

Twelve-year-old Syrian, Zeinab, from Deir ez-Zor, seen here at the Azraq Taekwondo Academy in Jordan, is one of the many Syrian refugees visited by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

© UNHCR/Diego Ibarra Sánchez

Sport has a unique unifying power. It can bridge divides and make borders disappear. It can transcend ethnicity, race, gender, nationality, language and creed. Whether inspiring us to support individual athletes or bringing us together to create teams or on our own, sport can contribute to a more peaceful and harmonious world.   These qualities find further expression in the ideals of the Olympic movement: friendship, solidarity, mutual understanding, respect, and fair play. 

It is in this spirit today that we have come together to renew and expand our commitment to building a better world for every young person, through sport. There are already many initiatives providing organised sport and recreation for young refugees and their host community peers around the world. But there are not enough. 

The Global Compact on Refugees, the international framework for strengthened cooperation and solidarity with refugees and affected host countries, specifically recognizes the contribution of sport and sporting entities in the protection and well-being of refugees and the internally displaced. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) leading a Sports Coalition pledge to provide sporting opportunities to young refugees ahead of the first-ever Global Refugee Forum in Geneva on 17 and 18 December, 2019.

The three pledges are:

• To promote and ensure access for all refugees, without distinction of any kind, to safe and inclusive sporting facilities.
• To increase availability and access to organized sports and sport-based initiatives for refugee and hosting communities, actively considering age, gender, ability and other diversity needs.
• To promote and facilitate equal access to and participation of refugees in sporting events and competitions at all levels.

From grassroots clubs and civil society organisations, to governments, national and international sporting federations, we are committed to working with the global humanitarian community to play our part in making the pledges of the Global Compact on Refugees a reality, so that displaced children, youth and their communities can have the access to sport, as participants or supporters, that they need and deserve, improving social cohesion, social inclusion and psycho social wellbeing and ultimately improve their quality of life.

List of signatories

1. AC Milan Foundation
2. Alley Runners club
3. AS Roma
4. Agitos Foundation
5. Association Football Development Programme, Global
6. Badminton World Federation
7. Bangladesh Football Federation
8. Beyond Hoops Africa
9. Beyond Sport
10. Black Pearls Academy, Brazil
11. Canadian Olympic Committee
12. Coaches Across Continents
13. Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français
14. Comité Olímpico de Portugal
15. Comité Olímpico Mexicano
16. Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA)
17. Cricket Without Boundaries
18. Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund (DOSB)
19. El Halev
20. English Football Association
21. FC Barcelona Foundation
22. Fédération Internationale de Teqball
23. Fight for Peace
24. FLAG21
25. Football Association of Ireland (FAI)
26. Football United
27. Fundacja dla Wolności
28. Foundation for Sport,  Development and Peace
29. Game
30. Generation for Peace
31. Happy Foot
32. Hasimta (Alley) athletics
33. Health Development Consultancy Services
34. Hellenic Paralympic Committee
35. International Federation of Sport Climbing
36. International Floorball Federation
37. International Judo Federation
38. International Paralympic Committee
39. International Surfing Association
40. International Sport and Culture Association
41. International Table Tennis Federation
42. International Table Tennis Foundation
43. Japan
44. Jordan Olympic Committee
45. KLABU Foundation
46. L.A.C.E.S.
47. La Fondation Terre des hommes
48. Liechtenstein Olympic Committee
49. Nederlands Olympisch Comité * Nederlandse Sport Federatie
50. New Zealand Olympic Committee Inc.
51. Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports
52. Olympic Refuge Foundation
53. Palestine: Sports for Life
54. Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee
55. Paris 2024
56. Peace and Sport
57. PLAY International
58. PlayOnside
59. Reclaim Childhood
60. Right to Play
61. Royal Belgian Football Association
62. Scottish Football Association
63. Skateistan
64. Spartans Community Football Academy
65. Special Olympics
66. Sport Against Racism Ireland
67. Sport Ireland
68. SRC Harare, Penyai Stars Trust
69. Swiss Academy for Development
70. Switzerland
71. Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation
72. Tambai Zimbabwe
73. Tam Tam Basketball
74. Turkish Olympic Committee
75. Uganda Olympic Committee
76. Unione Italiana Sport Per Tutti (UISP APS)
77. United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee
78. United World Wrestling
79. Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation
80. Ville de Paris
81. Women Win
82. World Association of Kickboxing Organizations
83. World Athletics
84. World Baseball Softball Confederation
85. World Karate Federation
86. World Taekwondo
87. Youth Sport Uganda