"Having 60 million displaced persons that is the biggest number ever in the history of human kind, needs both the efforts of our generation and next generation. IOC is applying help, cooperates with the refugee agency of the United Nations. We are supporting sports programs in many refugee camps around the world, flying there and sometimes building peace there," Bach told reporters.
As instance, he mentioned one of his colleagues who had recently returned from a refugee camp in Kenya, where 185,000 refugees with very different backgrounds were living together.
"You can imagine that it cannot be without tension for many reasons. Sport can do a lot to relieve this tension, to bring people together, by playing sport together people may, by getting involved they may get confidence," Bach stressed.
In September 2015, the International Olympic Committee set up a $2-million emergency fund to help refugees. The committee, which has worked with the UN Refugee Agency since 1994, said it was fielding submissions for IOC funding from National Olympic Committees (NOC).
