03-04-2007

"Sport is a social activity of crucial importance. It evokes competition and often also emotion and passion, but it should be disconnected from all violence. " This is "because one of its greatest benefits is to bring people together, not divide them", accroding to Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, deputy secretary-general of the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe is, in the framework of its campaign 'All Different, All Equal', organising an international conference on 'Sports, Violence and Racism in Europe' on 2-5 April 2007. Workshops and round-table discussions centre on:

The conference brings together politicians, government officials and experts, researchers, academics, NGO representatives, and sport federations. It provides an opportunity to compare current practices and evaluate both public authorities and sports organisations' perspectives on the problem of violence in sport.

Just before the conference, on 29 March 2007, the European Parliament adopted an own initiative report concerning security in connection with football matches with an international dimension. The report aims to amend a 2002 Council decision establishing 'national football information points' ran for and by the police. The MEPs backed amendments allowing these national information points to have access to personal data on "particular supporters who pose a risk or a high risk to the security of the match".

"In recent years we have seen too much violence, too many manifestations of intolerance and racist and xenopho­bic acts surrounding football matches. All this is changing one of the most loved and watched sports for European people. We need to ban violence from football through prevention, avoiding excessive security in stadiums, helping effective police co-operation, promoting strong cultural action and saving the social character of sport," said Rapporteur Giusto Catania, MEP.