SOCCER-RUSSIA/RACISM Russia should do more to tackle racism - UN

Record ID: 149404

  • Title: SOCCER-RUSSIA/RACISM Russia should do more to tackle racism - UN
  • Date: 23rd July 2015
  • Summary: ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (JULY 23, 2015) (REUTERS) FIFA SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS SIGN, READING: 'FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA 2018' (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF ANTI-DISCRIMINATON SECTION - OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, UNITED NATIONS, YURY BOYCHENKO, SAYING: "And if these kind of incidents continues happening then the system, the na
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2I84MZDKG84NXZO6E4Z7W1DEH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Russian soccer authorities need to do more to combat racism and at the moment do not fully understand what it means, a United Nations official said on Thursday.
    Racism in the 2018 World Cup host nation was thrown back into the spotlight on Wednesday when the Russian Football Union (RFU) rejected allegations that Ufa midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong was racially abused by Spartak Moscow supporters.
    The Ghanian said he was subjected to monkey chants during a Russian Premier League season last Friday, where he was sent off after he raised a finger to the crowd in response. He was subsequently suspended for two Premier League matches.
    "If these kind of incidents continue happening then the system, the national system should be reinforced," Yuri Boychenko told a news conference on Thursday (July 23). "There should be more efforts by the minister of sport and by the Union (Russian Football Union) in this field. This is absolutely clear."
    More than 200 acts of racism were committed by Russian fans between 2012 and 2014 according to a recent report by the Sova Center, a Moscow-based racism-monitoring group.
    Piara Power, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe, said last year that he believed an African team could walk off the pitch if they suffered abuse during a game at the World Cup.
    "When it happens in the society, sanctions are stronger and we always appeal that the same should be when it happens during football games or any other sport event," added Boychenko, who heads the Anti-Discrimination Section at the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.
    "As you know, there was a report published by Fare Network prepared by one of the Russian organisations monitoring centres, Sova, which speaks about 200 incidents which happened during two football seasons. They're different kinds of incidents.
    "I would not qualify them all as racist incidents. Many of them are incidents of radical nationalism or even neo-Nazi incidents. What is important is the reaction. The reaction of the authorities should be stronger, clearly."
    During the news conference itself, Boychenko said he believed the authorities were beginning to recognise there was an issue.
    "In a way you are right that first comes recognition," he said. "That authorities here should recognise that there is a problem and I believe that the recognition is coming."
    The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has already reacted angrily to the Frimpong incident, saying the player had been suffered to "vile" abuse and that it "beats our imagination" that the player was penalised.
    FIFA announced in May that a new system of match observers monitoring incidents of racism and discrimination at 2018 World Cup qualifiers, however Russian domestic matches do not fall under the jurisdiction.
    At Thursday's news conference, FIFA's Head of Social Corporate Responsibility, said FIFA had asked the RFU for details on the decision on Frimpong's case, although soccer's governing body could not intervene directly.
    Federico Addiechi stressed the issue of racism was a global problem and not just one for Russia but he added FIFA would follow the Frimpong case closely.
    "This is not just a problem in Russia. We are following of course prominent cases of discrimination in different national associations," Addiechi said. "Of course with the World Cup happening in this country there is a lot of focus on Russia and therefore we are as well following with a lot of interest in what is going on and are following this case (alleged racist incident towards midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong during Spartak Moscow's match against Ufa) in particular."
    Frimpong could only pursue his the case with the RFU and, ultimately, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Addiechi added.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register