The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) President Riccardo Fraccari attended the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) Global Refugee Forum on 13 December in Geneva where the WBSC renewed its commitment to the UNHCR’s Joint Pledge on Sport for Inclusion and Protection, which has five different areas that signatories must meet.
These areas are to:
- Promote an enabling environment that delivers access to safe sport;
- Promote and provide inclusive and safe, sport-based initiatives;
- Promote and provide opportunities for enhanced skills and pathways in and through sport;
- Use targeted communication, evidence and advocacy;
- Strengthen partnerships and coordination efforts.
President Fraccari presented the work of the WBSC Legacy Club, especially the WBSC’s successful work at the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, at a high-level dialogue event on the subject of Breaking Barriers: Realising the Potential of Sport for Inclusion and Protection, which was co-hosted by the Government of Colombia, Scort Foundation, the Olympic Refuge Foundation and the UNHCR.
“The WBSC is committed to maximising our position as the international governing body for baseball/softball to use our sport as a tool to help bridge cultural gaps, improve health and education standards and aid social development around the world,” President Fraccari said. “The work that we have already done at the Azraq Refugee camp in Jordan is a marker of that commitment and with the creation of the WBSC Legacy Club, we will have the ability to carry on with that work and potentially expand our footprint in the future.”
The dialogue event focused on the role that sport organisations, including the WBSC, have played and will continue to play in response to the refugee crisis globally. In addition to the WBSC, a vast range of stakeholders also spoke including World Taekwondo, UEFA and the International Paralympic Committee. IOC President Thomas Bach also provided the opening speech.
The WBSC’s continued work at the Azraq and Souf Refugee Camps in Jordan means it is already meeting the UNHCR’s Joint Pledge on Sport for Inclusion and Protection.
A brand new Baseball5 field was inaugurated in the Azraq Camp in March, where qualified coaches conduct weekly training sessions with displaced children and games against other local teams are organised.
The Legacy Club now also supports Baseball5 activities in the Souf Camp, where a large number of Palestinian refugees reside.