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

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The RFEF also rescinded the red card against Madrid's Brazilian star, who was subjected to racist taunts for almost half an hour during the game.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

SUDAN

Turk called the situation in Sudan "heartbreaking" as civilians continue to be exposed to risk with a lack of "successive ceasefires."

"The desperate situation of the people of Sudan-who fought so courageously against repression of their rights-is heartbreaking. In spite of successive ceasefires, civilians continue to be exposed to serious risk of death and injury-overnight we have had reports of fighter jets across Khartoum and clashes in some areas of the city, as well as gunfire heard in Khartoum-North and Omdurman," the rights chief said.

The Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary agreed Saturday to a seven-day cease-fire.

The conflict-hit African nation has been engulfed by violence for weeks between the army and the RSF.

More than 700 people have been killed, including 190 children, and 6,000 others injured, according to the UN.

Over 1 million residents have been displaced and over 840,000 have sought shelter in rural areas and other states while another 300,000 have crossed Sudanese borders.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the two sides about the integration of the RSF into the armed forces -- a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since the fall of 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

IRAN

Saying that the harassment of women in Iran appears to have intensified, Turk urged Iran to immediately overturn repressive policies against women and girls.

He stated: "In Iran, while the street protests have diminished, the harassment of women-including for what they do or don't wear, appears to have actually intensified. Women and girls face increasingly stringent legal, social, and economic measures in the authorities' enforcement of discriminatory compulsory veiling laws."

"I urge the government to heed Iranians' calls for reform, and to begin by repealing regulations that criminalize non-compliance with mandatory dress codes," he said and added: "I am also appalled by the continued use of the death penalty in significant numbers. I urge them to halt executions immediately."

PAKISTAN

The human rights chief called Pakistan's plans to revive the use of military courts to try civilians "disturbing".

Another situation that is deeply worrying is that hard-won achievements and the rule of law are in grave danger in Pakistan, he said.

He added: "I am alarmed by the recent escalation of violence, and by reports of mass arrests carried out under problematic laws-arrests that may amount to arbitrary detention."

"Particularly disturbing are reports that Pakistan intends to revive the use of military courts to try civilians-which would contravene its international human rights law obligations," he said.