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The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has revealed details of the pilot project for its Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, which aims to deliver the sport and education programmes to refugee camps around the world.
Scheduled to begin on January 1, 2016, the 12-month project in Jordan is split into six phases, with each phase being conducted across two-month periods.
Participants aged from as young as six-years-old will undertake theoretical and practical classes in each of the six phases, at the end of which they will be tested in both elements.
Studying English literature, including taekwondo terminology, history and concepts, provides the basis for the theoretical classes, while the practical sessions will focus on the taekwondo disciplines of poomsae and kyorugi.
The initiative comes in response to the migrant crisis, with figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), putting the number of refugees worldwide at almost 20 million, and the number of forcibly displaced people at nearly 60 million.
“It is time to act,” said Choue, who is here for day one of the WTF Grand Prix Series 2.
“The World Taekwondo Federation, which administers the Olympic sport globally, is doing just that.
“We are establishing the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation this year in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“Its mandate is to deploy taekwondo coaches to refugee camps worldwide, bringing the benefits of fitness, sport, self-defence, self-belief and self-respect to those who need it most.
“Taekwondo is an economical, easily deployed deliverable that can help raise the quality of life for refugees in camps worldwide, both children and adults.
“As an International Federation of the International Olympic Committee, the WTF is fulfilling its social responsibility.
“And our sport has precedents for helping people overcome adversity.”
Choue, 67, who is in his fourth term now as WTF President having taken up the post in 2004, already has one successful sports humanitarian intervention to his credit in the shape of the Taekwondo Peace Corps (TPC) project, active since 2008.
TPC was set up in 2008 to help spread Korean culture through taekwondo, a sport that is closely associated with the country and is embedded in society there.
“It’s very satisfying to spread our sport to the world and the young kids are really happy to be receiving the Taekwondo Peace Corps teams,” he told insidethegames.
“Through that programme, the young kids are finding their hopes and dreams through the Olympic sport of taekwondo.”
Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that an emergency fund of $2 million (£1.3 million/€1.8 million) will be made available to National Olympic Committees to fund programmes aimed at helping refugees.
Thomas Bach, IOC President, said the decision to set up the fund was taken quickly in response to the growing crisis which has seen refugees attempt to reach Europe in search of safety.
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