IOC Partners

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) works with several organizations, which it considers partners, in assistance projects for human development, via sport and physical activity. The IOC notes on its website,

It is a matter of using sport as a mean for a positive change. Although these projects are specific and merely symbolic, the Olympic Movement’s contribution is intended to complement the efforts of the governments and inter- and non-governmental organizations to meet the challenges of our society. The IOC’s commitment in this area is based on the need to place sport, which has become a real social force within society, at the service of human development.

The IOC lists its partners as the following:

• the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
• the World Health Organisation (WHO),
• the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
• the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
• the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP),
• the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),
• the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
• the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
• and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In 2009 its relationship with the United Nations (UN) was formalized when the UN granted the IOC observer status.