Dünya Etnospor Konfederasyonu - DEK - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Dünya Etnospor Konfederasyonu - DEK

Türkiye

Contact: +90 216 422 78 78; +90 534 574 79 19; +90 532 290 53 34
Postal address: Yamanevler Mahallesi Ahmet Tevfik lleri Caddesi Onur Ofis Park A2 Blok No: 10/A Omraniye Istanbul
Geographic Coverage of NGO’s expertise: Argentina, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

URL: https://worldethnosport.org/

Year of creation: 2017

Main areas of work related to the Convention:

7th Ethnosport Forum: held on 19th-20th April 2025 in St. Petersburg, Russia, brought together 200+ participants from 32 countries and 5 sports ministers. • Ethnosport Culture Festivals: annually organized in Istanbul, Turkiye, from 2019 to 2024, to showcase traditional sports and games from different countries such as Yabusame (Japan), Oina (Romania), Tskhenburti (Georgia), Pato (Argentina) and promote traditional cuisine, music, and handicraft. • Ethno-Truck: offers 15 stations with traditional sports and games activities. • Ramadan Events: During 30 days of Ramadan, ethnosports activities are held in various districts of Istanbul to offer visitors direct ethnosport experiences. • 6th Ethnosport Forum: held on February 16-18, 2024, in Antalya, Turkiye, with 200+ participants from 60 countries. Agreements between the WEC, the V World Nomad Games Directorate, and 52 federations strengthened global cooperation and standardization. • Ethnosport Summit: held on September 8·9, 2023, in Khiva, Uzbekistan with 100 participants from 34 countries. 2 MoUs for traditional archery and wrestling were signed for rules' standardization. • 4th Ethnosport Forum: organized on line on April 10, 2021 with in person attendance of sports ministers of 6 countries. The UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat participated via live connection and the UNESCO Assistant DirectorGeneral for the Social and Human Sciences contributed to the Forum with a video message. • Ethnosport Experience Center: opened in Istanbul in 2020 to practice traditional sports and games. • 3rd Ethnosport Forum: organized in Antalya, Turkiye in 2020 with over 200 participants from 49 countries and sports ministers from 8 different countries. • Regional Ethnosport Committees: 12 Committees aimed at establishing or developing relations among institutions and entities in the same regions. • WEC PhD Scholarships: announced in 2020 and open to PhD students from all over the world who are currently writing their doctorate thesis in the field of traditional sports and games. 8 scholarships have been awarded so far. • WEC Traditional Sports and Games Research Executives: composed of 14 academicians from 9 countries, started its work with the purpose of researching, analysing, and compiling ethnosports throughout the world in an academic framework. As a result of research, a digital platform called Encyclopedia of Traditional Sports and Games is being created. • 2nd Ethnosport Forum: held in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2019 with 200 participants from 30 countries. • Traditional Sports Awards: annually held during the Ethnosport Forum, they recognize excellent contributions to ethnosports to individuals and organizations in different categories: academician, junior and senior traditional sports players, traditional sports organization, leadership, communication, and sponsorship. 6 editions have been held so far. • World Nomad Games: the 3rd was held in Kyrgyzstan in 2018 with the WEC as coorganizer and main sponsor. The 4th was held in lznik, TOrkiye, with WEC as the main organizer of the event, featuring over 3,000 athletes from 102 countries competing in 13 sports. The event included around 40 traditional sports competitions and shows. The 5th was held in Astana from September 8-13, 2024, with 89 countries gathered for competitions in 21 traditional sports. • UNESCO 4th Collective Consultation Meeting on Traditional Sports and Games, hosted by the WEC in Istanbul in 2018 with 72 participants from 39 countries. • The 1st Ethnosport Forum, organized in Antalya, Turkiye, in 2018 with 180 participants from 56 countries.

Objectives

The World Ethnosport Confederation is an international institution dedicated to safeguarding, promoting, and spreading traditional sports and games to prevent their impoverishment and extinction. The Confederation achieves this by organizing events. conducting projects, and encouraging academic research. Over the last century, societal changes have left many traditional sports and games, known as "ethnosports,n unpracticed in various regions, despite their role as a means of cultural coexistence. Ethnosports represent the intangible cultural heritage of communities, as outlined in UNESCO's Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Aligned with this convention, the WEC aims to preserve, develop, and transmit this shared cultural heritage to future generations. To implement the goals of UNESCO's Convention, the WEC focuses on fostering cooperation among NGOs, conducting research and educational activities, organizing ethnosport-related events, and collaborating with institutions working in this field. As noted in UNESCO's Convention, intangible cultural heritage, including traditional sports and games, is essential for sustainable development. WEC's contributions align with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): • SDG 3: Promoting ethnosports to enhance physical and mental health. • SDG 4 & SDG 5: Organizing activities at schools to ensure accessible and inclusive physical education for all students. • SDG 10: Promoting values like equality, inclusion, and fairness to reduce inequalities. • S0G 17: Building partnerships to achieve these objectives through collaborative projects. Through these efforts, the WEC actively works to preserve and promote the cultural and social value of traditional sports and games for future generations.

Cooperation

WEC aims to create a platform where communities can express their sportive and cultural heritage and become visible worldwide through traditional sports and games. ln line with this WEC performs its activities related to a large number and variety of ethnosports branches. WEC gives importance to cooperating with a wide range of different segments, including public institutions, foundations, associations, NGOs, families, and individuals. WEC provides opportunities for interaction among all ethnosport communities and members for broader social dialogue. All the activities of WEC are held in mutual respect, cooperation with and involvement of all the related stakeholders. WEC aims to develop and consolidate national and international friendships within the framework of the intangible cultural heritage and to promote and represent each country in the best and the most equitable manner on the world stage. Various forums, festivals, competitions, projects, researches and exhibitions are implemented in order to introduce ethnosports worldwide. WEC efforts to represent traditional sports, games and culture of every country during these events. For instance, during the Ethnosport Culture Festival in 2014, in addition to other traditional sports and games, Oina, a Romanian traditional team game, and "Tskhenburti", a Georgian traditional equestrian sport, were performed and presented to the visitors to increase the awareness of ethnosports of other countries. In addition, WEC provides information about members and their traditional sports and games gives on its web-site, priority for transparency and, publishes regularly annual bulletins of activities on web-site. WEC has signed MoUs with International Traditional Sports and Games Association. International Mas-Wrestling Federation, European Association of Traditional Sports and Games, International Centre for Sport Security, and Confederazione Boccistica lnternazionale for cooperation in safeguarding ethnosports. WEC has initiated EU projects "Empowering Youth Through Traditional Sports and Games" and "Development of Digital Platforms and Applications for the Revival of Traditional Sports and Games", with Magyar-Turan Foundation (Hungary), lqra International Academic Charity (Germany), International Belt Wrestling Koresh Federation (Russia), Traditional Sports Branches Federation of Turkey, TTB Youth Organization (Norway), Bosnian Representative Association for Valuable Opportunities, Club Deportivo Chane (Spain), Asociacija Aktyvistai (Lithuania). For future projects, intends to collaborate with federations and various organizations to organize a series of events in Azerbaijan, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Turkive.