Refugee Para Athletes Hope To Raise Awareness
Members of the Refugee Paralympic Team have expressed their hope that the Tokyo Games will raise public awareness of global refugee issues.
The team is composed of six people who have fled their countries due to conflict and other circumstances. The athletes compete in Para swimming, Para athletics, Para taekwondo and Para canoe.
Three of them met reporters in Tokyo on Monday, the eve of the opening of the Games.
Syrian-born swimmer Ibrahim Al Hussein lost a part of his right leg in the country's civil war. He said the six team members hope to share information about refugees with more people.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates about 12 million out of the world's some 82 million refugees and internally displaced people are living with some form of disability.
Al Hussein also said the team members want to put on good performances to give refugees and displaced people the power to move forward.
During the news conference, messages of support written on paper airplanes by children in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward were read out for the Para athletes. The ward is hosting the team.