International Paralympic Committee

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; German: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement.

The IPC leads the Paralympic Movement, oversees the delivery of the Paralympic Games and supports its 200 plus member organisations to enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, then part of West Germany, its vision is to "make for an inclusive world through Para sport". Furthermore, the IPC aims to use Para sport as a catalyst to changing attitudes and legislation, creating greater opportunities for the world’s 1.3 billion persons with disabilities.

The IPC has a democratic constitution and structure and is composed of representatives from 185 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs), 18 International Federations, three International Organizations of Sport for the Disabled (IOSDs) and five regional organizations. The IPC's headquarters is located in Bonn, Germany.

On the basis of being able to organize the Paralympic Games more efficiently and to give the Paralympic Movement one voice, the four international organizations of sports for the disabled founded the International Co-ordination Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC) in 1982. In the upcoming years, other organizations joined and the need for a democratically guided organization emerged, as demanded by the nations participating in the Paralympic Movement. They desired a democratic structure, to improve national and regional representation, which led to the foundation of the IPC as it is known today. The 1994 Paralympic Winter Games, in Norway, were the first to be organized by the IPC.

With its 208 member organisations, the IPC functions as an umbrella organization, in contrast to other international sports organizations for athletes with a disability, which are predominantly limited to a single sport or disability.

A 14-member Governing Board is responsible for the governance of the IPC between meetings of the General Assembly. Robert D. Steadward became the first President in 1989. Since 2017, Andrew Parsons is President of the IPC.

The International Paralympic Committee has had three presidents to date. Its founding president, who presided over it from 1989 to 2001, was the Canadian Robert Steadward, who had previously founded the Canadian Sports Fund for the Physically Disabled. He was succeeded in 2001 by Philip Craven, a British Paralympian and former President of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, who served as president until 2017. Craven was succeeded by Brazil's Andrew Parsons, who was IPC Vice President from 2013 to 2017 and a former President of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee.

The IPC Governing Board consists of 14 members, of which 12 are elected at the General Assembly, including the President and Vice President. The most recent election for the Governing Board was held on 12 December 2021: