The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has joined the Global Refugee Forum Multi-stakeholder Pledge on Sport for Inclusion and Protection by becoming a signatory today, coinciding with Honorary IOC President Thomas Bach, who chairs IOC Olympic Refuge Foundation, addressing the delegates of the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review 2025 currently being held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Global Refugee Forum (GRF) is the world’s largest international gathering in support of refugees and the communities that host them. The GRF Progress Review marks the mid-point in the GRF cycle and aims to track implementation of pledges made at the previous forum.

The Multi-stakeholder Sport Pledge outlines the role that sport can play in improving the lives of refugees, including through sport programming, policy change, skill development, and communication and advocacy efforts.

As a signatory, FIH has committed to:

  • Under the banner of the Hockey Foundation and with the support of the FIH Academy, offer relevant resources and skills development/training opportunities to ensure the global hockey community is supported to promote the inclusion of displaced people in hockey activities and in hockey communities hosting refugees
  • Under the banner of the Hockey Foundation and with the support of the FIH Academy, implement initiatives to identify and grow coaching expertise within displacement affected communities, supporting refugee coaches to deliver regular sustainable hockey activities
  • Promote, through its communications, the powerful role of sport as part of a whole of society response to address the challenges of the global displacement crisis
  • Provide brief updates of its activities in support of the pledge to the Sport for Refugees Coalition/Global Refugee Forum team

Thomas Bach, IOC Honorary President and Chair of the Olympic Refuge Foundation, said: “We are delighted to have the International Hockey Federation joining the Sport for Refugees Coalition. International Federations play a crucial role in leading their sport forward in the protection of displaced people. Through this initiative, the FIH will ensure the global hockey community is equipped to promote the inclusion of displaced people worldwide. We welcome the FIH to our Coalition and hope that their example will inspire other actors across the Olympic Movement to join us."

FIH President Tayyab Ikram said: “FIH is committed to building a better world through sport and to supporting development, increasing participation and improving accessibility of hockey worldwide. Today, I feel very proud to lead an organisation that has added another milestone to this bold commitment by becoming a signatory to the Joint Sport Pledge for Inclusion and Protection. I would like to commend the exceptional work done by the Olympic Refuge Foundation, and especially its Chairman, Honorary IOC President Thomas Bach.”

FIH joins more than 170 organisations, including over 40 National Olympic Committees and International Federations, as well as governments, refugee-led organisations, UN agencies, civil society organisations, private sector representatives and beyond in supporting the pledge.

FIH has also recently joined as a signatory of the Statement from the Sport for Refugees Coalition which is a group of organizations and other entities focused on supporting displaced people through sport. The Statement advocates for the integration of sport into refugee response efforts. The Sport for Refugees Coalition is co-convened by the Olympic Refuge Foundation, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Scort Foundation.

As a new member of the Sport for Refugees Coalition, FIH endorses the joint statement calling for governments, donors, sports bodies, and humanitarian actors to embed sport more fully in refugee responses, ahead of the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review (GRF PR).

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