A/HRC/62/55 9. The Special Rapporteur is dismayed by the significant gaps in racially and ethnically disaggregated data on inequalities in access to sport and the particular dearth of information on the impact of systemic barriers to sports experienced by those in the global South. The limited research materials available suggest that the disproportionate impact of poverty and income inequality on persons from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, including those with experiences of intersectional discrimination, translates into inequitable access to the resources necessary to participate in sports. A previous Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance noted that sports that require high levels of income for entry are characterized by less racial and ethnic diversity in national and international competitions. 14 The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report that included analysis on how the intersection between discrimination based on race and discrimination based on gender leads to greater obstacles for specific groups of women and girls, including those from racial and ethnic minorities.15 B. Conflict 10. As the Special Rapporteur outlined in her most recent report to the General Assembly, there are multidimensional interconnections between conflict and racism. 16 Persons from marginalized racial and ethnic groups are disproportionately impacted by violent conflict, due to the vulnerabilities arising from their positionality and their experiences of pre-existing systemic racism and intersectional discrimination, which are often legacies of enslavement and/or manifestations of past or ongoing colonialism, occupation and apartheid. Persons in situations of conflict are likely to face more significant barriers to participation in sport because of the impact of violent conflict on the availability of safe spaces, facilities, sports programmes and trained coaches. The exacerbation of socioeconomic exclusion that is often correlated with conflict can also reinforce and deepen the detrimental impact of poverty on participation in sport. There is a multidimensional relationship between racial discrimination and forced displacement and migration resulting from violent conflict. Internally displaced persons and refugees may face systemic barriers to participating in sport due to personal injuries and disabilities acquired in conflict situations or during dangerous migration journeys, lack of access to basic identification documents, legal complexities with their nationality, and racism and xenophobia.17 11. Information received highlighted the multifaceted and destructive impact of conflict, occupation, apartheid and genocidal acts in the occupied Palestinian territories on the right of Palestinians to participate in sport. This included information about travel and freedom of movement restrictions in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, imposed by the Israeli occupying forces through checkpoints, roadblocks, the separation wall and the permit regime. These restrictions mean that in practice athletes have not been able to travel around Palestine for training sessions and competitions and/or have been blocked from leaving the country to compete in regional and international competitions. The situation reportedly became even more acute when the illegal land, sea and air blockade was imposed in 2007, leading to movement in and out of the Gaza Strip being severely restricted. The severe restrictions faced by Palestinians athletes stand in stark contrast to the treatment of Israeli football clubs that are based in illegal settlements, demonstrating the apartheid experienced by Palestinians because of Israeli occupation. Despite national and international concern about the normalization of the presence of illegal sporting entities in occupied territory, this practice continues.18 14 15 16 17 18 4 A/69/340, para. 21. See A/HRC/44/26. See A/80/496. See A/79/299, A/80/496, A/HRC/60/69 and A/HRC/44/26. Submission from the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, and OTH 132/2024 (available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=29414). See also Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied GE.26-07112