As part of the Sport for Refugees Coalition, the IJF has been very active over the years to offer opportunities to refugees across the world. The coalition provides a platform for members to connect, to learn and to partner with others involved in supporting displaced people and their host communities through sport.
Partnering with national federations, local authorities, local and global organisations such as UNHCR and NGOs and the private sector, the IJF has been offering its expertise to provide the conditions of a better future to those who need it the most. Thus several refugee camp programmes run on a daily basis and new initiatives are being studied for the years to come.
2024 put the spotlight on refugees, especially at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, where 6 refugee athletes participated in the judo tournament, both in the individual and mixed team competitions. From an educational point of view, hundreds of young refugees benefit from the judo values in Türkiye, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa, to name a few.
During the meeting, key figures were provided that proved that sport can and must play an important role in securing a better future for the millions of displaced people across the globe. Thus, throughout all the sport activities linked with the pledges, 445 000 displaced people are involved in 82 countries and more than 6,000 persons have been trained to coach. In total 109 sporting spaces were created, involving 2253 organisations. The sport pledge is doing the best out of all categories!
The IJF is happy and honoured to play a key role and to be part of that global initiative that fits perfectly with the judo values as they were established by Jigoro Kano Shihan and that can be sumerised in the jita-kyoei motto (mutual welfare and benefits).
Learn more about the Sport for Refugees Coalition