Deal with ‘shadow side’ of sports, UN rights chief says after Vinicius abuse

The United Nations rights chief decried Wednesday the racist attacks on Brazilian footballer Vinicius Junior during a match in Spain, urging concerted efforts to root racism out of sports.

“We are calling on all those organised sport events everywhere in the world to counter and combat and prevent racism,” Volker Turk told reporters in Geneva.

His comments came after 22-year-old Real Madrid forward Vinicius was targeted with shouts of “monkey” from the stands during a match in Valencia on Sunday — the latest in a series of racist attacks against him.

Turk said it was “a stark reminder of the prevalence of racism in sport”.

He hailed the “very strong reaction from the authorities”, pointing out that “they started arresting people very quickly afterwards”.

“An investigation has to happen. It’s clear that it’s an affair that will preoccupy the judiciary.”

He stressed, though, that “those who organise sports events take that issue very seriously”.

Turk highlighted the many positive aspects of sports, for instance in building communities.

But, he said, “we need to deal with the shadow side as well.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said he had asked his office to prepare a policy brief looking into the issue of racism in sports.

“We need to have a hard look at human rights and sports from a wide range of perspectives,” he said.

“We want to put forward a number of clear ideas of human rights standards in sport events,” he said, pointing to issues around participation, inclusion and “fighting stigmatisation, racism”.

“We have seen discrimination on a wide range of issues, including gender discrimination and discrimination against LGBTI people as well who participate in sports events,” Turk said.

It must be made absolutely clear, he said, that “racism is totally unacceptable”.

He said everyone in society should think about how they act.

“Do I have bias?… How do I react when I see someone else making a racist slur?… Do I deal with it, do I respond to it?”

“We need to find ways and means to eradicate it entirely in the 21st century. It requires everyone to be onboard.”