UNHCR announces the 27th Student Contest on the theme «We all belong to the same team»
UNHCR launches the 27th edition of the UNHCR Refugee Convention.ο annual national Student Competition for the school year 2023-2024 on the theme «We all belong to the same team». This year's competition invites children to creatively share their thoughts on the unique positive power that sport has on the lives of people and communities around the world.
While it is a fundamental human right that contributes to our physical and mental health, sport is also a powerful means of strengthening social bonds and promoting sustainable development and peace. For refugees in particular, and especially for refugee children and young people who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution and human rights violations, sport helps them to overcome traumatic experiences and integrate into their new societies. At the same time, it is a means of empowerment and inclusion, including for athletes with disabilities, and motivates people to work towards a common goal and purpose, feeling that they belong to a team.
From the refugee sports clubs founded by refugees who arrived in Greece from Asia Minor to the Olympic and Paralympic Refugee Team and the presence of many refugee players and athletes in famous teams around the world, sport inspires the values of equality, cooperation, justice and respect, showing the way for a world that embraces refugees.
Ο 27ous UNHCR's Student Contest invites students of all ages attending Kindergartens, Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and High Schools, including refugee students of the respective age groups, attending Refugee Reception and Education Facilities (REF) or non-formal education facilities, to inform themselves, exchange views and express their messages creatively through sketches, posters or comics. Children can share their personal experiences, ideas and suggestions on how sporting activities, participation in physical activities and organised individual or group sport can bring people together and reinforce fundamental human values.
Entries must be submitted electronically here until 31 January 2024 by the teachers in charge of the class or the school administration.
A special committee will evaluate all entries based on their originality and creativity and will award one entry per school level. The Committee will be composed of representatives of the Network for Children's Rights, of Panhellenic Network for Theatre in Education, of The Hellenic Olympic Committee, of UNRIC - United Nations Regional Information Centre (Office for Greece and Cyprus), of Athens Comics Library and the UNHCR. Additional members of the Evaluation Committee of the Competition are the two-time Olympic champion Sofia Bekatorou, the Syrian Paralympic athlete Ibrahim Al Hussein and the Poppy Kirdi, teacher and Head of Cultural Affairs at the Directorate of Education of the 1st of Athens.
The winning entries will receive commemorative gifts related to sports (handmade ethical football balls and health and sports watches) and all children will receive a commemorative diploma of participation in the competition. The winning entries will be showcased through the websites of UNHCR and the Commission's agencies.
For more information on the guidelines and conditions of participation in the Competition, please visit the website: https://www.unhcr.org/gr/student-contest-23.
