The IOC points to Spain as a benchmark in the sports integration of refugees

The Board of Directors of the Olympic Refuge Foundationan organization created by the IOC whose goal is to give displaced youth access to sport, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and with the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE).

The agreement establishes a framework of cooperation to create spaces that favor the participation of young refugees in sport.

The document was signed by the president of the IOC and the Foundation, the German Thomas Bachof the COE, Alexander Whiteand of the minister Jose Luis Escrivain an action attended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Italian Philippo Grandi.

Thanks to the agreement, says Bach, the refugees came to Spain “they will be able to unite society through sport” and the Spanish model will be imitated in other countries.

“It’s more than signing a memorandum”, He added. “It highlights the core mission of the Olympic Movement, which is to create a better and more peaceful world through sport. In these difficult times, we need more than ever the unifying mission of sport, which is not a political mission, it’s a humanitarian. one, “highlighted.

The Foundation, awarded last week along with Refugee Olympic Team with the Princess of Asturias Award De los Deportes is an independent international non-profit organization whose goal is to give forcibly displaced youth access to safe sport. It was established by the International Olympic Committee in December 2017.

Both refugee teams participated in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games.

Thomas BachHe pointed out, who expressed himself “touched” at the awarding of the prize, that the Foundation’s role is to promote the protection and empowerment of vulnerable people and the creation of facilities where they can practice the sport.

So far, the IOC president said, it has facilitated access to sport for 85,000 displaced youth and members of their host community in ten countries, including Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, the Republic of the Congo and Jordan. .

“It is more than just the supply of material or the creation of sports facilities. Sport is empowerment, it’s respect, it’s health, it’s confidence, it creates a positive mentality, ”said Bach, who thanked the Spaniards and government for welcoming Ukrainian refugees after Russia’s invasion of their country.

At the ceremony, Bach awarded the IOC President’s Trophy to the COE and its president Alejandro Blanco, who stressed that the signing of the memorandum was “more than a medal or record.”

“It means working together to help those most in need”he pointed out.

Blanco detailed the activities carried out by the COE with refugees from different countries in Spain, after which, he said, “the second part is the construction of a space, with the help of the IOC and other sponsors , which is not just sports, but of integration ”.

Thus was born, he said, the training center in Getafe, which the Foundation will visit this afternoon and bear his name. Bach stressed, “the first center of its kind in the world.”

Filippo Grandi expressed himself “very concerned” about the inequality between the “incredibly generous response” given in Europe to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, a response he accepted, “and given other crises. “

“So these initiatives are generally very positive”, I comment on aid centers for Olympic refugees. “We will work together to develop more initiatives in other countries on this model,” he said.

Minister Escrivá indicated, for his part, that it was “very symbolic” to gather around the same project “the principles of the Olympic Charter, UNHCR and a ministry bearing the name of ‘integration’.”

The agreement, he said, forced them to do “something very substantive” and mentioned the importance of “first reception”, which in the case of Spain is very important in the Canary Islands.

“The sports facilities we can provide in the reception centers are plenty of space, such as old barracks and schools, can be first rate. We can start right away, ”he said.

“The second stage, the first stage of integration” should also offer refugees “the possibility to play sports with the society around them,” the minister said.

Attending the signing of the agreement were IOC members Pau Gasol, Marisol Casado and Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch, as well as the presidents of several Spanish federations.

The meeting held by the Olympic Refuge Foundation before the signing was attended by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgoas the city representative that will organize the next Olympic Games in 2024.