FCBARCELONA.CAT
Main menu
Content menu
Football
06.11.2008 15:29
Barça at the European Parliament
Marc Parramon (enviat especial)
FC Barcelona has displayed yet more of its social commitment as a presentation was made in Brussels of the conclusions of the project titled ‘Youth voices against racism’.
Barça was at the European Parliament at midday today, being greeted by much expectation as they once again showed their commitment to social issues, this time in the form of the presentation of the ‘Youth voices against racism’ programme that was developed jointly by the club’s Foundation, Unesco and the European Parliament.
The FC Barcelona delegation was headed by President Joan
Laporta along with the director general of the Fundació FC Barcelona, Marta Segú, who were in the
Belgian capital to present the conclusions of their study.
Barça against racism
Two young members of the debating forum, Swede Aman Melles (15 years) and German Julia Dubiel (17 years), revealed the 10 conclusions in the European Parliament’s auditorium. Once this was over, Joan Laporta said that he will be fighting “for these young people’s recommendations to be carried out” and will be presenting them to all the organisations with which the club shares relations.
According to the president, “at FC Barcelona we
understand that these are very interesting recommendations and we shall apply such items as this
anti-racism and anti-discrimination clause to all of our contracts with players and
sponsors”. Laporta also said that the issues raised “will be studied by the
corresponding forums”.
The subdirector general of Unesco, Marcio Barbosa, was also in the auditorium, and wished to highlight the role of FC Barcelona in the project: “We know we have established an alliance with the best collaborator we could have asked for in our fight against racism” he said.
At the end of the ceremony, Joan Laporta presented a Barça shirt to Emine Bozkurt, member of the European Parliament, which included the slogan ‘Youth voices against racism’.
Pioneering initiative
This was the first time a sporting body has joined forces
with Unesco and the European Parliament to produce a joint project to eradicate racist and violent
behaviour. In this sense, the president of FC Barcelona wished to highlight the unconditional
support the first team squad have given to all of the anti-racism campaigns the club has been
involved in.
Support from Lillian Thuram
Former FC Barcelona player Lillian Thuram joined the team’s delegation in Brussels to show
his support for the Foundation’s achievements. Thuram has always been a major defender of
Human Rights and the fight against racism, and was especially impressed by today’s events.
“The Barça family can feel proud of itself because through this initiative Barça has once
again shown that they are a club with clear social commitments, and that places them ahead of the
rest”.
The former centre back is convinced that sport is an ideal arena for providing incentives for equality and changing xenophobic attitudes through the values that can be learned from playing as a team.
The former centre back is convinced that sport is an ideal arena for providing incentives for equality and changing xenophobic attitudes through the values that can be learned from playing as a team.
