UN denounces racist attacks against Vinicius Junior – 05/24/2023 – Sport

UN denounces racist attacks against Vinicius Junior – 05/24/2023 – Sport


The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, denounced this Wednesday (24) the racist insults uttered against Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior, of Real Madrid, and called for joint efforts to eradicate this scourge from sport.

“We call on all these sporting events around the world to confront, combat and prevent racism,” Turk said in Geneva, before stressing that the new incident was a “brutal reminder of the prevalence of racism in sport”.

On Sunday (21), the 22-year-old striker was the target of racist insults during his team’s 1-0 defeat by Valencia at the rival’s stadium.

The incident had a huge impact in Spain, where cases of racism have been reported for several decades in stadiums, without resulting in real criminal sanctions.

In this specific case, Turk welcomed, however, “a very strong reaction from the authorities”, noting that “they started arresting people very quickly”.

“An investigation must take place. This is a subject that will concern the Justice”, he added.

For the UN’s top human rights official, “those who organize sporting events take the issue very seriously”.

While acknowledging the many positive aspects of the sport, Turk says that you also have to “deal with the dark side”.

The High Commissioner has asked his services to prepare a guidance report on the issue of racism in sport.

“We want to propose a certain number of clear ideas about norms relating to human rights in sporting events”, he insisted, citing the problems of participation, inclusion and the “fight against stigmatization and racism”.

“We found discrimination on a wide range of issues, including gender discrimination and discrimination against LGBTI people who also attend sporting events,” Turk said.

It must be absolutely clear – he stressed – that “racism is completely unacceptable” and, in this sense, he asked everyone to do an examination of conscience.

“Do I have a prejudice? (…) How do I react when I see another person launching a racist insult? (…) Do I settle down, do I respond to it?”, he questioned.

“We have to find ways to completely eradicate it in the 21st century. That requires everyone to face [o problema]”, he completed.



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