Refugees Shine Bright at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics

35 refugee representatives of the Refugee Olympic Team and Paralympic Team had just competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympics games.  Going higher, faster and stronger than ever before, they highlighted the power of sport as a universal language of hope.

“By taking part in the Olympic Games, I want to convince those who think a woman on a bicycle – or a Muslim woman biking wearing a headscarf – is inappropriate that, no, it’s normal,”

says road cyclist Masomah Ali Zada, 25. Born in Afghanistan, she left a conservative community where girls are discouraged to cycle competitively to pursue her cycling dream to become a top global player.

Despite being forcibly displaced, Masomah has proven her success today. She may not have won the Women’s Individual Time Trial in Tokyo, but she’s unfazed and is now studying civil engineering in France.

“I want to show that women are free to do whatever they want,” she says.

UNHCR’s commitment to sports goes beyond the Olympics. We also run programmes to protect younger refugees from abuse, exploitation, neglect and violence, harnessing sports power to reduce tensions, heal trauma and develop skills.

About UNHCR:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established on 14 December 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee issues. It strives to ensure that everyone has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state, with the option to voluntarily return home when conditions are conducive for return, integrate locally or resettle to a third country. UNHCR has twice won the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1954 for its ground-breaking work in helping the refugees of Europe, and in 1981 for its worldwide assistance to refugees.