24 June 2009

Humanitarian Resource Institute
Phone: (203) 668-0282
Url: www.humanitarian.net

HRI Global Arts Integration Into Education Initiative
Url: www.UNArts.org
Twitter: unarts

Humanitarian Intervention Initiative (H-II)
Url: www.UNArts.org/H-II

H-II:  IOC Asked  to Support Iranian Athletes

The International Olympic Committee is being asked to join leaders in every United Nations member country, in support of athletes in Iran who have been punished for supporting the view of Human Rights Attorney, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, who said that the results of the recent election, which the two reformist candidates have complained was rigged, should be annulled.   Ebadi will legally represent the family of a young woman shot dead during a protest in Tehran (Iran's Neda killing 'was illegal': Al Jazeera News, 24 June 2009). 

According to the article  "Footballers slapped with life ban and passports confiscated" (DUBAI, AlArabiya.net):

"Four of Iran's national football players have been forced to 'retire' following their World Cup qualifier against South Korea in which some team members sported green armbands in solidarity with the Iranian opposition against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a known football buff.

The players have been slapped with a life ban, meaning they will not able to play for their country again, and have also had their passports taken away from them, threatening their jobs abroad with European teams.

...The players have also been banned from speaking to the media and are stuck in Iran after returning from Seoul where they failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa folllowing a 1-1 draw against North Korea."

In the context of the Olympic Ideal (Humanitarian Resource Institute. March 2003)

The International Olympic Committee's involvement in assistance projects for human development is aimed at improving, through sport and physical activity, the quality of life and well-being of people who live in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. It is a matter of using sport as a means for positive change. Although these projects are specific and merely symbolic, the Olympic Movement's contribution is intended to complement the efforts of governments and inter- and non-governmental organisations to meet the challenges of our society. The IOC's commitment in this area is based on the need to place sport, which has become a real social force within society, at the service of human development.

Related:

• H-II: Shirin Ebadi, Human Rights Attorney, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, will represent family of Neda, Humanitarian Resource Institute, 24 June 2009.
• H-II: Human Rights Reporting - Evidence Collection - Witness Protection, Humanitarian Resource Institute, 23 June 2009.

In deepest appreciation of your support for these athletes.

Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net