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| Together with youth against racism |
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| Young Europeans are being invited to join a continent-wide campaign launched today by UNESCO, FC Barcelona and the European Parliament to eradicate violence and racism in sport. |
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 The programme, called “Youth Voices Against Racism”, will be implemented with the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism (ECCAR) which includes 72 cities in 16 countries. It is directed mainly at young people, between the ages of 15 and 18, who will be invited to take-up the long-term struggle against racism and discrimination through their participation in local policy-making.
As a first step, municipal authorities in each of the Coalition’s member cities will organize consultations with youth through schools, associations, youth councils or working groups, online networks and local media. They will be asked to look at ways in which sport can be used to combat racism and discrimination and to promote tolerance, mutual respect and solidarity.
Their recommendations will be submitted to municipal authorities and local governments, before being presented by delegates from each city to a Youth Forum, held from 18 to 20 September in Bologna (Italy). In November, the end result will be presented to the European Parliament and the European Commissioner of Sport Jan Figel.
“It is more urgent than ever to rid stadiums of the scourge of racism,” said Marcio Barbosa, UNESCO’s Deputy Director-General. “The very definition of sport is based on fair play and exchange. Young people are the natural torch-bearers of this message and we are looking to them to play a key role in making it heard and understood at all levels of society. ”
Emine Bozkurt, Dutch member of the European Parliament, who initiated the influential European resolution to tackle racism in football, emphasizes the social role sport can play in this matter: “Sport is a mirror of society, with all of its shortcomings. But let us not forget that, above all, sport offers great possibilities for social inclusion.”
Joan Laporta, President of FC Barcelona, added: “Racism distorts football and sports in general. Our objective is to support youth in finding solutions against racism in cities and we believe that the stadium is the right place to start.”
The new programme is being undertaken within the framework of an agreement signed by FC Barcelona and UNESCO on 23 November 2007 to promote the values of sport through education and awareness raising.
Contacts:
FC Barcelona, Marc Parramon
Tel. +34 696 86 38 45
UNESCO, Lucía Iglesias Kuntz
Tel. +33 1 45 68 17 02
European Parliament, Emine Bozkurt
Tel. + 32 48 52 23 136
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