UNHCR Regional Consultations with NGOs in Western and Central Africa
UNHCR Regional Consultations with NGOs in Western and Central Africa
In this section:
Media contacts – Geneva
- Matthew Saltmarsh
[email protected]; +41 79 967 99 36 - Shabia Mantoo
[email protected]; +41 79 337 76 50 - Olga Sarrado Mur
[email protected]; +41 79 740 2307 - Eujin Byun
[email protected]; +41 22 739 705
Contact us
Important documents
UNHCR's 'Sport for Protection' approach builds on the unique capacity of sport to actively and meaningfully engage young people. Sport and play can have a pivotal role in creating a fun and safe environment that supports children and youth to learn and grow. It can also provide a space to address the specific risks that displaced children and youth face.
At the 2019 Global Refugee Forum, more than 80 entities – from grassroots clubs and civil society organizations to UN Member States and national and international sporting federations – concretized their commitment to building a better world for refugees through sport, pledging to support increased access and participation at all levels for displaced communities.
Giving refugees the opportunity to compete in elite sport can be a powerful way of demonstrating that when given the opportunity they can compete at the highest level. In 2020, 29 refugee athletes competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games and 6 at the Paralympics.
UNHCR also works for the inclusion of refugee protection and development in global sporting agreements such as the Kazan Action Plan and groups such as the Open-ended Working Group on SDG sports model indicators, as well as working across the UN system.
Kateryna with her two-year-old son. She and her family left Ukraine for Poland in March 2022. They will celebrate Orthodox Christmas in a hostel in Krakow, where they share a dormitory with thirty other people.
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Ukraine emergency
The international armed conflict in Ukraine that started in February 2022 has caused enormous destruction, loss of life and suffering. To date, one third of the country's population has been forced to flee their homes as refugees abroad or internally displaced within the country, and more than 17 million are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. In light of the emergency and the scale of humanitarian needs of refugees from Ukraine, an inter-agency regional refugee response is being carried out, in support of the efforts of refugee-hosting countries.
UNHCR is present in Ukraine and provides humanitarian assistance wherever necessary and possible. UNHCR has also greatly expanded its presence in areas of Ukraine and neighbouring countries where large numbers of people are arriving to seek safety.
World Refugee Day
June 20 is World Refugee Day. This year, our communications focus on the power of inclusion and solutions for refugees. Our tagline is "Hope away from Home. A world where refugees are always included."
- Toolkit for external partners
- Social media content (available soon)
- Photo pack
- Messaging document
Recognizing the power of sport, UNHCR works to develop partnerships, programmes, projects and tools to support the social development, inclusion, cohesion, and well-being – in particular of children, adolescents and youth – in displacement contexts. This thinking was concretized in paragraph 44 of the Global Compact on Refugees, which recognizes "the important role that sport […] can play in social development, inclusion, cohesion, and well-being, particularly for refugee children […] and youth, as well as older persons and persons with disabilities".
Sport and games have been found in humanitarian settings for as long as UNHCR has been working with people forced to flee conflict and persecution. For most of this time sport has been seen as a distraction for young people rather than a positive tool for supporting displaced communities. In recent years the approach to sport has become more strategic, and in 2022 UNHCR released its first-ever sports strategy – More than a Game. It outlines UNHCR’s ambition to expand the use of sport and strengthen engagement with the sport world to benefit displaced and stateless people globally.