FRA signs pledge to support UEFA anti-racism campaign during EURO 2008

«FRA Director Morten Kjaerum will join UEFA, FARE, FIFPro, football players and others in signing a «pledge» supporting respect for diversity at a launch event for EURO 2008™ on 7 June in Basel, Switzerland. This «pledge» is timely as a spate of events in Europe over the past year has shown that the spectrum of racism and other forms of intolerance still haunt the sport. …

The pledge kicks off a series of planned activities on football and racism for FRA in 2008. The agency has published a special edition of its Equal Voices magazine on «football versus intolerance», which brings together perspectives from professional players, UEFA president Platini and European politicians, on how football can win the match against racism and other forms of intolerance.

FRA is preparing a report on racism and examples of anti-racism good practice within football and will organise an event with the football family to develop further action to address these issues across Europe.»

Source

http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php?lang=EN

http://fra.europa.eu/

The European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) will join UEFA, FARE, FIFPro, football players and others in signing a «pledge» supporting respect for diversity at a launch event for EURO 2008™ on 7 June in Basel, Switzerland. This «pledge» is timely as a spate of events in Europe over the past year has shown that the spectrum of racism and other forms of intolerance still haunt the sport.

«We must continue to tackle racism in football head on as recent events at football grounds have highlighted in Europe. A lot has been done by UEFA and some national associations but we all agree that it’s a team effort and more action is required now. There needs to be greater representation of the game’s multi-ethnic groups in decision-making roles. There needs to be consistency in the way laws and rules are applied regarding racial abuse and inequality. And we need to be able to see and measure progress», said Morten Kjaerum, Director of the Fundamental Rights Agency.

The pledge kicks off a series of planned activities on football and racism for FRA in 2008. The agency has published a special edition of its Equal Voices magazine on «football versus intolerance», which brings together perspectives from professional players, UEFA president Platini and European politicians, on how football can win the match against racism and other forms of intolerance. FRA is preparing a report on racism and examples of anti-racism good practice within football and will organise an event with the football family to develop further action to address these issues across Europe.

FRA calls on the football authorities and their clubs to undertake the following action as part of coordinated and sustainable work to promote racial equality and combat all forms of intolerance:

National level

 Establish a mechanism to record, report and monitor intolerance, in close cooperation with Equality bodies and the policing authorities;

 Establish a public database of good practice to promote racial equality and combat all forms of discrimination in football;

 Designate or establish an equality coordinator within national associations of football who can devise a national action plan for football.

European level

 Establish standards and rules on racial abuse and inequality with enforcement powers with European wide applicability and consistency;

 Establish a train-the-trainers programme for managers, referees and football officials on equality and discrimination issues.