- The subject was studied at the “Sports for Coexistence” seminar, organised by Refugees Welcome on 16 May 2023, the International Day of Living Together in Peace.
- Several organisations presented their experiences on the use of sport as a way to support the well-being of forcibly displaced people and their settlement.
- The event included the participation of UNHCR, Fundació Barça, the Observatory on Public Law (IDP) and the University of Barcelona, Street Soccer Barcelona and the Can Mir Football School Club.
Barcelona, 16 May 2023.
On 16 May, the International Day of Living Together in Peace, the “Sports for Coexistence” seminar was held to analyse the use of sport as a way to promote the social inclusion of forcibly displaced people. The event is part of Coexistence Week, which promotes the culture of welcoming and acceptance in society.
In recent years, there has been a great increase in the use of sport as a tool for social transformation. Many actors from different parts of society are using it to improve the social cohesion and coexistence of groups that are forced to live together in the same community due to different circumstances.
Forced displacement: a growing phenomenon
This is the case of forced displacement, a phenomenon that has increased in recent years due to the political and social conflicts proliferating around the world. People who are forced to flee their community of origin in search of asylum suddenly arrive in a new society where they encounter great cultural, language and social barriers.
“By mid-2022, there were already 103 million forcibly displaced people around the world, of which approximately 50% are boys and girls for whom sport is essential”, explained Edelmira Campos, head of UNHCR’s Foreign Relations Department in Spain, during the event.
According to Campos, UNHCR’s strategy in the use of sport focuses on four fundamental lines around refugees: making them feel part of their host community by exercising a leadership role, getting athletes access to elite sport to create professional opportunities, giving a voice to this group in the media to get support in society and creating an international network with different sports-related actors and institutions.
Sport to boost quality of life
“Sport helps to improve the quality of life of vulnerable people, especially minors”, said Paco Sanz, corporate manager of Fundació Barça, a foundation that promotes sports activities for minors implemented by education professionals who take an inclusive approach to sport.
Indeed, they do sports activities in which all people can participate and feel included without exception, whether they are refugees, people with functional diversity or people with mental health problems, groups with which the foundation usually works in its sports projects.
“Sport cannot solve all of society’s problems, but it can give them visibility and help the processes of discrimination that affect refugees to change direction”, said Raúl Hernández, researcher at the University of Barcelona and organiser of the event.
Access to sport for refugees, a social obstacle
Precisely, one of these problems is that refugees are excluded from sports when they arrive in their host community. They cannot access gyms or sports services in general because in many cases they do not have an identity card.
“It took me a year and a half to be able to play sports again after I arrived in Spain”, said Richard Lamah, a refugee and volunteer with Refugees Welcome, the event’s organiser. “And when I was able to practice it again, another African friend and I both suffered discrimination on the football pitch that made us leave”.
“I wanted to play football, but it wasn’t possible without a passport”, lamented Yakuba, a refugee from Africa. “Thanks to the Street Soccer Barcelona sports project, I was able to play again, even if not professionally. In fact, what I wanted was to be a referee, but without papers that was impossible. In the end, thanks to their help, I was able to study to get the necessary certificates and now I am refereeing football matches”.
Sport: a human right?
“Is sport a fundamental right that should be recognised internationally as a human right?” This is the question that Karlos Castilla, coordinator of the Human Rights Institute of Catalonia, asked the attendees of the seminar. “And if so, who should regulate this right? Should it be run by public bodies rather than by private organisations with particular interests?”
According to Castilla, there is currently no international standard that considers the right to sport as a human right. Only some countries enjoy such recognition at the national level. The most universal document recognising one is the Olympic Charter of the International Olympic Committee, which serves as a benchmark for the international community, even though it lacks legal weight.
“The absence of rights means that refugees cannot participate in certain leagues or sports activities due to lack of documentation or because those who regulate these areas are private agents such as federations, and not the state”, Castilla said. “Therefore, refugees and, more importantly, refugee children are discriminated against”
Access to sport for refugees at the university
For refugees to have access to sport, many approaches have emerged from different areas of society. One of them is the university environment. Since 2015, the University of Barcelona (UB) has offered sports programmes aimed at this group. The COMMUNITY project currently holds weekly Socio-Sports Meetings for refugees.
“The interesting thing about this project is that it mixes local and refugee populations to promote coexistence between both communities, in addition to helping to improve their well-being”, said Cati Jerez, coordinator of the UB’s Support Programme for refugees and people from conflict zones, which is coordinated by Fundació Solidaritat UB.
According to Cati Jerez, the UB has been developing this methodology since 1993. It is based on cooperative motor-skill games instead of focusing on standard sports to avoid the rivalries typical of competitive sports such as football and basketball. This promotes the formation of positive bonds between the people who participate, who once again feel human and treated equally.
“The Socio-Sports Meetings focus on three points: that the participants can meet people, have a good time and exercise”, said Laura Tomás, the social educational professional involved in the project. “This gradually and naturally gets people to open up emotionally, improve their social skills and their ability to assume responsibilities, skills that they can extrapolate to their daily lives”.
Sport as a tool for integration and social transformation
Everything indicates that the phenomenon of forced migration is here to stay. Society must respond to the needs coming from this phenomenon to alleviate the social problems that intercultural clashes and social exclusion can produce.
According to the experts at the seminar, sport is unifying and harmonising force that can help to solve these problems, reducing social segregation and the racism and discrimination suffered by refugees. At the same time, it improves coexistence between them and their host community.
However, to achieve this, the host community must be involved in the change. In this sense, sport can be a strategic line to reach people willing to help this vulnerable group.
In conclusion, the appropriate use of sport can be a driving tool for change and social transformation that can unite society and create opportunities while healing people and giving them hope
Photographs of the seminar
