UN rights chief urges all sporting bodies to counter, prevent racism

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN rights chief on Wednesday urged all sporting bodies to combat racism, following the abuse suffered by Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior last Sunday.

At a news conference in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that racism is “totally unacceptable,” adding that there is a need to “find ways to eradicate it entirely.”

"The racial abuse faced – once again – by Real Madrid football player Vinicius Junior in Spain just this past Sunday is a stark reminder of the prevalence of racism in sport,” Turk said.

“I call on those who organize sporting events to have strategies in place to prevent and counter racism," he said.

He underlined that the fight against racism requires everyone to be on board, including the whole society, authorities, as well as the organizers of sports events.

The UN rights chief also drew attention to the "very strong and quick" reaction from the Spanish authorities as they have already arrested several people allegedly involved in the racist abuse of the Black Brazilian football player.

The human rights chief stated that he asked his office to prepare a guideline of policies in the coming weeks on sports events to counter hate crimes.

On Tuesday, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced that Valencia's Mestalla stadium will be partially closed for the next five matches over racist abuse by the club's fans against Vinicius Jr.

The RFEF also rescinded the red card against Madrid's Brazilian star, who was subjected to racist taunts for almost half an hour during the game.

Under the new decision, Vinicius will be able to play in Wednesday's La Liga game against Rayo Vallecano.

After the 67th minute in Sunday's game, the stands began to chant racist taunts at Vinicius, who had won a free kick for Real Madrid.

The match had to be stopped for nine minutes as the insults continued.