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Kevin-Prince Boateng tells United Nations: 'We must confront racism' Kevin-Prince Boateng tells United Nations: 'We must confront racism'
(35 minutes later)
Kevin-Prince Boateng has told the United Nations in Geneva how he felt "angry and offended" when he kicked the ball into the stands and led his Milan team-mates off the field to protest being abused by fans of the Italian fourth-tier team Pro Patria during a friendly match in January. The Milan midfieder Kevin-Prince Boateng told the United Nations on Thursday that racism is a "dangerous disease" with no easy cure.
"Racism can be found on the streets, at work and even in football stadiums," he said. "There were times in my life when I didn't want to deal with this subject. I tried to ignore racism, similar to a headache that you know will go away if you just wait long enough. But that was [a] misconception. Racism does not go away. If we don't confront it, it will spread." The Ghana international was speaking in Geneva on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination after making headlines in January when he walked off the pitch in protest at racist abuse during a friendly match in Italy, with his team-mates following.
The former France captain Patrick Vieira echoed the sentiment: "Racism is unacceptable. It's a crime which has no place on the football field or in any sporting event," he said. "Racist insults are frequent, very frequent, in fact more frequent than people think … No part of the world is spared." Boateng warned the UN that racism remains a very real problem in the 21st century.
Federico Addiechi, Fifa's head of social responsibility programmes, said strong words were not enough. "We know fines are not and may not be enough. Deducting points from a team could send a very strong message. Relegating or eliminating a team from a competition can send an even stronger message," Addiechi said. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the year 2013 and racism is still amongst us and is still a problem," he said.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said the now-infamous incident involving Boateng, replayed on YouTube and on a huge overhead screen on Thursday at the start of the hour-long UN discussion, shows the unfortunate continuation of deeply unpleasant acts during sport events, including during football matches. "It's not simply an argument for the history channel or something that belongs to the past or something that only happens in other countries. Racism is real, it exists here and now."
"These deplorable acts of bigotry and violence have no place in the 21st century. They are an affront to human rights," said Pillay. As such they are illegal under international human rights laws, and are, as Pillay added, "particularly damaging" because of the importance of athletes and sporting events for young people. Describing his experience of playing around the world in his club career and for Ghana, Boateng compared fighting racism with the battle to contain malaria.
"There must be accountability for racist offences" in sports, she concluded. "It is a crime and must be treated as such by sports authorities … The time to kick the bigotry out of football is now." "There is no vaccine to fight this and no antibiotics to take," he said. "It's a dangerous and infectious virus which is strengthened by indifference and inaction.
"When I played for Ghana, I learned how to fight malaria. Simple vaccines are not enough. You also have to dry out infected areas where the carriers proliferate.
"I think that racism and malaria have a lot in common.
"Stadiums can be places where people of different colour come to support their teams or they can be seen as stagnant areas where healthy people will be infected by racism.
"We can't allow this to happen before our very eyes. Football stadiums, like other places, are full of young people. If we don't fight the stagnation, many of those who are healthy today, could become infected with one of the most dangerous diseases of our time."
Boateng made a stand when he received abuse from spectators during Milan's winter break friendly against Pro Patria, and the match was abandoned after the Rossoneri players walked off in protest.
Their actions reopened the debate but Milan themselves have since been on the wrong side of the issue since, with the club's vice-president Paolo Berlusconi provoking anger by using a derogatory term to describe the new signing Mario Balotelli just weeks later.
However, Boateng believes sport can be a weapon against racism.
"Many sportsmen like myself and my team-mates, artists and musicians all have unique chances and responsibilities to make themselves heard," he told the UN.
"We have the possibility to reach the parts that political speeches will never reach.
"History shows us how important the contributions of famous athletes can be. I can say that the fact that the president of the America shares my skin colour, has something to do not only with Martin Luther King, but also Muhammad Ali."