The president of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, recently announced to the UN general assembly that refugee athletes who are “highly qualified” will be allowed to compete in the Olympics. The next Games will be taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the summer of 2016. Bach has received support from 180 of the 193 UN state members and said that the IOC has created a $2 million fund to support the project, according to CTV News. Previously, refugees were unable to compete in the Olympics because they are unable to represent their country and its Olympic committee. Bach says, “Having no national team to belong to, having no flag to march behind, having no national anthem to be played, these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic anthem.” At the Games, they will be living among the 11,000 other athletes in the Olympic Village.
Bach hopes to bring dreams and opportunity back to the refugee athletes who had to flee their home countries and abandon their sports careers, and to raise awareness concerning the worldwide refugee crisis. Currently, according to Edith Lederer in her article for The Big Story, there are approximately 20 million refugees in the world. Bach is calling on others to help the IOC find the high-level refugee athletes out of these 20 million.
On that note, not only will refugees be taking part in the next Olympics, but over the course of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, participating countries are asked to respect the Olympic Truce. Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 organizing committee, asked that from seven days prior to the Olympic Games to seven days after the Paralympic Games, UN member states respect the Olympic tradition that was revived in 1993. For the Rio Olympics, this period will span from Aug. 5, 2016 to Sept. 18, 2016. Despite the Truce having been revived almost 23 years ago, countries still fight wars over the duration of the Games.
The Truce began with an ancient Greek tradition in which the legendary oracle of Delphi called for a cessation of hostilities to encourage a peaceful environment and ensure safe passage and participation for athletes in the ancient Olympics, according to CTV News.
With that in mind, Bach expressed that the Olympic Games are the culmination of equality and non-discrimination. “All people are equal, regardless of their race, gender, social status, cultural background, faith or belief,” he told the general assembly. Bach continued, “[The Games] are the time when the values of tolerance, solidarity and peace are brought to life […] this is the time when the international community comes together for peaceful competition.”
By bringing refugees into the Olympics, and by asking the Olympic Truce to be respected, Bach and Nuzman are doing their best to demonstrate world peace.