| Press Release |
TRIBUNAL
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 26 November 2010
VE/MOW/1372e
ICTY Staff Football Team Off To The UK For An HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign
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The Tribunal today sent off its Staff Union football team to the UK to play a series of friendly games in an effort to help eradicate stigma against people who live with HIV/AIDs and play sports.
From 27 to 30 November, the UN Workers Football Team will play games against the teams from UK Members of Parliament, the Trades Union Congress, as well as teams from Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
The UN team began training in October 2010, and is made up of players from 14 nationalities, representing all organs of the Tribunal.
While sending the team off, the Registrar, John Hocking, said: “This event is representative of the true spirit of the UN: it unites people from various backgrounds, fighting for a common cause. I can only be proud of our staff who are volunteering their own money and time to help tackle prejudice against people suffering of HIV/AIDs.”
The UK football tour is part of the ICTY Staff Union’s recently launched social campaign S’porting Lives. The first campaign hopes to raise awareness of the unwarranted stigma people living with HIV/AIDS face when trying to participate in sports. It is supported by HIVsport, Educational Sports Forum, FIFPro and the Professional Footballers Association.
S’porting Lives’ campaign will conclude on World AIDS Day, 1 December, in Cape Town, where S’porting Lives has collaborated with Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a leading HIV/AIDS organisation in South Africa. The TAC team will play COSATU (South African Trade Union Federation) to support S’porting Lives’ international cause.
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For more information on the campaign, please contact Rick Cottam, President of the UN Staff Union ICTY, at +31 (0) 6514 98 902
Footage of an interview with the President of the Tribunal, the team’s practice games, today’s event and consequent activities are available from the Media Office upon request.
To learn more about S’porting Lives and the UN Workers Football Team UK Tour, visit:
http://www.icty.org/x/file/Press/PR_attachments/sportinglives.pdf
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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