Paralympic Movement Offers More

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons says the Paralympic Games can be a way of pro­moting human rights.

Parsons made the comment while deliver­ing his keynote address at the opening of the three-day Oceania Paralympic Committee general assembly at The Westin Denarau Is­land Resort and Spa, Fiji yesterday.

He told the delegates from the around the region, that in order to promote human rights through the Paralympic Games, it was vital to get better athletes and sports presen­tation.

“Having the Paralympic Games as our flag­ship event and as our main event where we use it more in a way to promote the agenda of human rights,” Parsons said.

“In order to do this we need to have better athletes, better sports presentation, better services and better communication strate­gies behind the Paralympic Games.

“We want to make a difference in the world through sports and we think it is really im­portant.”

He said it was also important to strengthen the abilities of the Paralympic movement at all levels which meant investing in people, investing in the Paralympic Committees and in the regional organisation like the Oceania Paralympic Committee.

“For the past few years we needed to focus more on sports to develop the Paralympic movement and the Paralympic Games but now we want to help and use the Paralympic movement to also strengthen the wider dis­ability human rights agenda, the diversity and the inclusion,” he added.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

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