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UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport completes first UN mission in Jordan
©CIO/Richard Juilliart
29/10/2014
IOC Honorary President Jacques Rogge
completed his first mission as Special Envoy of the United Nations (UN)
Secretary-General for Youth Refugees and Sport.
With the goal of raising awareness on
the conditions of youth refugees and the impact of sport for their
well-being, Rogge visited Syrian refugees currently living in the UN camp of Azraq,
located in the desert 100 kilometres east of the Jordanian capital,
Amman. He was accompanied by HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, IOC Member in
Jordan and President of the National Olympic Committee.
The Azraq camp formally opened last April and is run by the Jordanian authorities with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its humanitarian partners. The camp currently hosts 5,000 shelters housing some 18,000 refugees.
During the visit Rogge spent time with refugee families and youth. He also visited the site that will soon host a multi-sport playground financed by the IOC. In addition to providing the facility, the IOC, together with local partners, will also implement a full programme for kids to play sports including football, volleyball, basketball, field hockey, and handball in addition to taking part in the recreational programme already underway in the camp. The facility and the programme will be designed to encourage girls to also participate. Almost all children in the Azraq camp have experienced traumatic forms of violence and sport is considered a key component to their healing process. The sports programme should be operational in the course of 2015 and aims to benefit over 2,000 young people/refugees per year.
©CIO/Richard Juilliart
“I am really honoured to have been appointed to this
role and grateful to the UN Secretary-General for the trust he put in
me. This first mission has been particularly moving and inspiring,” said
Special Envoy Rogge. “Refugee populations are largely composed of young
people and children and having talked to families today there is no
doubt that leisure and physical activities can have a positive impact on
their lives in disarray.”
“Sport will improve their physical health, give these refugee youth a sense of enjoyment and hope, and bring structure to their daily routine,” he continued. “We cannot underestimate the important role of sport and I am proud to be here to see that these are not only words but a reality.”
Rogge was appointed Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Youth Refugees and Sport last April in New York when the IOC and the UN signed a historic agreement aimed at strengthening collaboration between the two organisations.
The IOC, which has been working in close collaboration with the UNHCR for two decades, has already seen thousands of refugees benefit from sports programmes and equipment donated by the IOC.
Since 2004, the IOC and UNHCR have organised a “Giving is Winning” programme in the run-up to the Summer Olympic Games. This global solidarity campaign has become an iconic experience through which athletes, officials and sponsors of the Olympic Games, National Olympic Committees , International and National Federations, and other Olympic Movement stakeholders have expressed their support for young people in need, particularly in refugee camps, by donating tens of thousands of clothing items . The campaign has already collected over 170,000 items of clothing, which have reached refugees in 23 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
In 2013 and 2014, the IOC, Worldwide Olympic Partner Samsung and the UNHCR have joined forces to distribute IOC Sports Kits to more than 180,000 internally displaced young people living in refugee camps in 20 countries throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In Namibia, the IOC, UNHCR, and the local NOC implemented a Sport and Education programme for some 8,500 young people living in the Osire refugee settlement in the centre of the country. The programme was specifically designed to involve young people in sports activities in order to alleviate some of the major problems affecting them, namely teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (such as HIV) and drug abuse.
For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team:
Tel: +41 21 621 6000 e-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org, or visit our web site at www.olympic.org.
Broadcast quality footage
Please use the following link to download broadcast-quality footage to help you with your coverage of this event: http://vimeopro.com/afpservices/ioc-jordan
password: IOC JORDAN
This video news release includes:
- Footage of Jacques Rogge’s visit to the UN camp of Azraq
- An interview with IOC President Thomas Bach in English and French
Photos
For a selection of photos from this event, please go to www.afpforum.com, or contact images@olympic.org.
VideosYouTube: www.youtube.com/iocmedia
Social mediaFor up-to-the-minute information on the IOC and regular updates, please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The Azraq camp formally opened last April and is run by the Jordanian authorities with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its humanitarian partners. The camp currently hosts 5,000 shelters housing some 18,000 refugees.
During the visit Rogge spent time with refugee families and youth. He also visited the site that will soon host a multi-sport playground financed by the IOC. In addition to providing the facility, the IOC, together with local partners, will also implement a full programme for kids to play sports including football, volleyball, basketball, field hockey, and handball in addition to taking part in the recreational programme already underway in the camp. The facility and the programme will be designed to encourage girls to also participate. Almost all children in the Azraq camp have experienced traumatic forms of violence and sport is considered a key component to their healing process. The sports programme should be operational in the course of 2015 and aims to benefit over 2,000 young people/refugees per year.
©CIO/Richard Juilliart
“I am really honoured to have been appointed to this
role and grateful to the UN Secretary-General for the trust he put in
me. This first mission has been particularly moving and inspiring,” said
Special Envoy Rogge. “Refugee populations are largely composed of young
people and children and having talked to families today there is no
doubt that leisure and physical activities can have a positive impact on
their lives in disarray.”“Sport will improve their physical health, give these refugee youth a sense of enjoyment and hope, and bring structure to their daily routine,” he continued. “We cannot underestimate the important role of sport and I am proud to be here to see that these are not only words but a reality.”
Rogge was appointed Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Youth Refugees and Sport last April in New York when the IOC and the UN signed a historic agreement aimed at strengthening collaboration between the two organisations.
The IOC, which has been working in close collaboration with the UNHCR for two decades, has already seen thousands of refugees benefit from sports programmes and equipment donated by the IOC.
Since 2004, the IOC and UNHCR have organised a “Giving is Winning” programme in the run-up to the Summer Olympic Games. This global solidarity campaign has become an iconic experience through which athletes, officials and sponsors of the Olympic Games, National Olympic Committees , International and National Federations, and other Olympic Movement stakeholders have expressed their support for young people in need, particularly in refugee camps, by donating tens of thousands of clothing items . The campaign has already collected over 170,000 items of clothing, which have reached refugees in 23 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
In 2013 and 2014, the IOC, Worldwide Olympic Partner Samsung and the UNHCR have joined forces to distribute IOC Sports Kits to more than 180,000 internally displaced young people living in refugee camps in 20 countries throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In Namibia, the IOC, UNHCR, and the local NOC implemented a Sport and Education programme for some 8,500 young people living in the Osire refugee settlement in the centre of the country. The programme was specifically designed to involve young people in sports activities in order to alleviate some of the major problems affecting them, namely teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (such as HIV) and drug abuse.
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The International Olympic Committee is a
not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of
volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport.
It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider
sporting movement, helping athletes and sports organisations at all
levels around the world.For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team:
Tel: +41 21 621 6000 e-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org, or visit our web site at www.olympic.org.
Broadcast quality footage
Please use the following link to download broadcast-quality footage to help you with your coverage of this event: http://vimeopro.com/afpservices/ioc-jordan
password: IOC JORDAN
This video news release includes:
- Footage of Jacques Rogge’s visit to the UN camp of Azraq
- An interview with IOC President Thomas Bach in English and French
Photos
For a selection of photos from this event, please go to www.afpforum.com, or contact images@olympic.org.
VideosYouTube: www.youtube.com/iocmedia
Social mediaFor up-to-the-minute information on the IOC and regular updates, please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
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