UN Special Adviser on Sport Concerned over Closure of Youth NGO in Gaza
13 December 2010
Article from: http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sport/home/template/news_item.jsp?cid=23345
carried out by the Sharek Youth
Forum on the beach in Gaza City,
June 2009. © Antoine Tardy / UNOSDP
Geneva (UNOSDP) – The Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, Mr. Wilfried Lemke, recently voiced his concern about the forced closing on 30 November by the local authorities in Gaza of all Gaza-based offices of the 'Sharek Youth Forum’, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working with young people.
In a statement issue on Friday, Mr. Lemke declared: “As I could observe myself during a visit to the Gaza Strip in June last year, the Sharek Youth Forum is a key implementing partner for the UN on the ground, in particular in the context of the Gaza Summer Games. This year, the NGO was instrumental in providing recreational and learning beach activities to more than 60,000 children and youth, as well as vocational training for some 2,000 volunteer instructors.”
The 'Gaza Summer Games’ are a large-scale initiative carried out every year since 2007 by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which provides a variety of sporting, recreational and educational activities – including sports, swimming, arts and crafts, theatre and drama – to some 250,000 children and youth in the Gaza Strip, bringing them fun, new skills and relief from the hardship of their daily lives.
“The UN needs the dedicated and professional assistance of their partners, including the Sharek Youth Forum, if they are to succeed in their efforts to support the people living in Gaza. Not to mention that those partners are a crucial source of professional opportunities, thus partly addressing the alarming economic situation in the Strip,” Lemke declared.
In conclusion, the Special Adviser called for the immediate and unconditional resumption of the Sharek Youth Forum’s activities in Gaza.
Mr. Lemke’s statement echoes the concerns expressed two days ago by Mr. Max Gaylard, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory, who declared: “Sharek is an important NGO partner of the United Nations in its work on behalf of children and the youth in Gaza,” adding that freedom of association and freedom of expression are fundamental rights protected by international law as well as the Palestinian Basic Law.
Since its creation in 1996, the Sharek Youth Forum has played an important role in Gaza in enabling children and young adolescents to actively engage in sports, arts and other cultural activities. Over the years, the Sharek Youth Forum has established itself as a highly respected neutral organization offering young people room for respite from the harsh living conditions in Gaza.
