JJIF Board Statement – Ukraine War
Dear Ju-Jitsu family
Dear Sport people of the World
The basic principles expressed by the Ju-Jitsu International Federation are the avoidance of any form of violence, the calm and reasonable treatment of any confrontations based on civilized dialogue and the respect to humankind, to society and to nature.
JJIF condemns Russia’s invasion to Ukraine as well as any form of violence from one country to another country especially with military actions. All the governments of the world are striving and hoping for successful negotiations that would allow to stop the violence against innocent people. But innocent people are dying every second of this unreasonable war and there is no war that starts alone, behind any war there are personalities who must be isolated and punished.
The current war in Ukraine shows clearly that the Russian and Belarus governments breached the concept of Olympic Truce.
The “Olympic Truce,” or “Ekecheiria”, was established in Ancient Greece in the ninth century BC to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all athletes and spectators from these Greek city-states, which were otherwise almost constantly engaged in conflict with each other; the IOC decided to revive the concept of the Olympic Truce in the early 1990s with the support of the United Nations, with a view to protecting, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to harness the power of sport to promote peace, dialogue, and reconciliation more broadly.
JJIF Board as part of the Olympic Movement examined very carefully the situation in sports caused by Ukraine War in connection with our Statutes and values and the IOC recommendations.
JJIF adopts the IOC statements and recommendations:
The Olympic Movement is united in its mission to contribute to peace through sport and to unite the world in peaceful competition beyond all political disputes.
JJIF World and Continental Championships and other regional Ju-Jitsu events as well multisport events unite athletes of countries which are in confrontation and sometimes even war.
In fairness JJIF does not want to punish athletes for the decisions of their government.We are committed to fair competitions for everybody without any discrimination.
However, if we do not take any action, athletes from Russia and Belarus would be able to continue to participate in sports events while the athletes from Ukraine will be prevented from doing so because of the attack on their country.
The JJIF Board has therefore carefully considered the up-today situation and issued the following resolution:
- The JJIF deplores the war taking place in Ukraine and we are in complete solidarity with the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian Ju-Jitsu Federation for targeted help where needed.
- To protect the integrity of JJIF competitions and for the safety of all the participants, we instruct to the event organizers not to invite or allow the participation of athletes under the official Russian and Belarusian Ju-Jitsu Federations and officials in all Ju-Jitsu competitions.
- JJIF withdraws any function/activity in the JJIF/JJCU government and commissions of all Russian Federation officials.
- JJIF/JJEU will relocate or cancel all Ju-Jitsu events currently planned in Russia or Belarus.
JJIF continues to monitor the situation and is in direct contact with the IOC and may adapt its measures according to future developments.
JJIF Board