A/69/340 educational and awareness-raising activities in the areas of development, peace and environment. 27 35. The Federation for International Football Association (FIFA) has been a longstanding and active player in the fight against racism in international football and has instituted a series of symbolic actions to teach fair play and respect for diversity of both athletes and supporters. 28 The FIFA anti-discrimination day is a special pre-match event, initiated in 2002 during the semi-finals of the World Cup in the Republic of Korea and Japan, which now takes place annually at one of the FIFA competitions to raise awareness of the need to abolish racism and other forms of discrimination throughout the world. Prior to the match, the captains of both teams read out a declaration against discrimination, following which both teams come together in the centre of the stadium and hold a banner with slogans against racism. Another initiative, the “Say No to Racism” campaign sponsored by FIFA, began with the 2006 World Cup and expanded upon the FIFA anti-racism day, making it customary to prominently display large “Say no to racism” banners prior to official FIFA matches. Furthermore, as part of the campaign, FIFA publishes on its official website interviews with players, coaches, representatives of clubs and federations and other relevant stakeholders concerning the issue of racism in sport, thereby multiplying and empowering voices against racism. 36. The sixty-third FIFA Congress, held in 2013, unanimously adopted a resolution on the fight against racism and discrimination, 29 in which the range of sanctions for racism and the personalities legally subject to them was expanded. Sanctions may be imposed on players, officials and spectators, the staff of clubs and associations, and the clubs and associations themselves. The document foresees a large number of sanctions, such as fines, match suspensions, stadium bans, deductions of points, relegation to a lower division, closed matches, forfeit of matches, and disqualification from competition. As far as the fines are concerned, various minimum amounts are established in order to reflect the severity of the infringements. The sanctions are mandatory for all member associations and must be implemented, without exception, in local and regional competitions in accordance with their internal association structure. 37. For the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Brazilian Government, in tandem with FIFA, prepared the campaign entitled “Copa sem Racismo” (World Cup without Racism). 30 Several media broadcasts were prepared to raise awareness that racism and related intolerance is an unacceptable crime. The campaign was broadcasted on popular news websites in Brazil and the official websites of the Government and public agencies. Pursuing the objective of no racist incidents at the World Cup, social media and the hashtag #copasemracismo were used to encourage the population to adhere to the campaign, and a series of videos promoting a World Cup without racism were exhibited during the lead-up. Furthermore, in both the semi-finals and the final, players entered stadiums carrying banners and posters with anti -racist slogans. __________________ 27 28 29 30 12/21 See http://www.olympic.org/olympism-in-action (accessed 15 July 2014). See http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/socialresponsibility/antiracism/ (accessed 21 July 2014). http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afsocial/anti-racism/02/08/56/92/fifa-paper-against-racismen-def_neutral.pdf (accessed 21 July 2014). See http://www.copa2014.gov.br/pt-br/noticia/jogos-da-copa-do-mundo-trarao-mensagenscontra-o-racismo (in Portuguese; accessed 21 July 2014). 14-59616