[ad_1]
The International Olympic Committee is announcing $ 560,000 in winter grants to athletes who have left the country.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), after organizing the evacuation of some 300 members of the Afghan sports community, has announced $ 560,000 in aid for the winter.
“Our discreet diplomacy allows the Taliban to support and support the IOC for providing humanitarian assistance to members of the Olympic community living in Afghanistan,” IOC President Thomas Bach said on Wednesday.
He was speaking after the second day of the executive committee meeting, where the IOC allocated $ 560,000 to around 2,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes to be distributed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
After the Taliban returned to power in mid-August, 300 Afghan athletes, coaches and officials were evacuated by the National Olympic Committee with humanitarian visas obtained from their governments.
“This is a work in progress,” Bach said.
“It has become more difficult than the beginning of this evacuation to get a humanitarian visa for the people of Afghanistan. However, we are talking to several governments and hope to implement one or the other.
“As this has slowed down, we have strengthened the humanitarian community to survive the harsh winter in Afghanistan.”
On Tuesday, Bach said the IOC began talks with the Taliban on November 18 in Qatar about those who were left behind, especially women and girls.
“We have made it clear to them that free access to sport, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or other discrimination, is fundamental to respecting the Olympic Charter,” he said.
Afghan aid allows the IOC to defend its “quiet diplomacy”, a term coined to justify the controversial intervention in the recent case of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. Sexual Assault Party Politician.
Bach spoke to Peng for 30 minutes on November 21 during one of his first contacts with a Western organization. It was a second video call in early December, which allayed concerns about her physical well-being, but not her level of freedom.
Accused of serving propaganda in Beijing, the COI has defended its “humane” approach, saying it is “more effective” to act behind it to ensure the player’s “well-being and safety”, not to mention his accusations.
[ad_2]
Source link
