A/79/299 63. In a similar manner, quality sports programmes and coaching tend to be concentrated in more central or well-off areas. In South Africa, the stark contrast between the well-funded sports programmes in affluent schools and the lack of resources and qualified coaches in schools serving low-income communities perpetuates inequality in sports participation. 44 64. Participation also depends on the possibility to reach sports facilities safely. When sports facilities are far away, the lack of safe and affordable public transport makes it difficult for people, particularly women and girls, to access such facilitie s and events. 45 2. Discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic origin and nationality 65. Unfortunately, racism is still rampant in sport. The discourse of sports as a post-racial, meritocratic and fair space in which racialized inequities are a thing of the past draws from very specific examples of elite minority athletes and undermines difficult ongoing structural discrimination in sport. 46 Direct exclusion on the basis of colour, or of ethnic or national identity, may be less common than previously, but silent exclusion must still be addressed. Media outlets have questioned why the swimmer Adam Maraana is only the third Palestinian with Israeli citizenship ever to compete in the Olympics, especially given that studies suggest that athletes are expected to underplay their Palestinian identity. 47 Racial abuse of players, volunteers, referees and managers is fairly common and significantly affects individuals’ opportunities and experiences in sports. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Eniola Aluko’s complaints about the discrimination she had faced as a British-Nigerian footballer were met with indifference by the Football Association of England. Minority participants very much continue to suffer from discrimination and abuse in sport. It is reported that, at the 2022 Fédérat ion Internationale de Football Association World Cup, held in Qatar, certain national or racial groups, in particular fans of African descent, were often denied access to stadiums by security guards for wearing national costumes or bringing in instruments (e.g. drums and horns) and banners (including items permitted under the regulations of the Fédération). 48 State efforts to address racism in sports are of paramount importance; they must recognize the multilayered complexity and interconnectedness of racialized exclusions. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the plans of action and guidelines that have been published recently by States such as Australia 49 as one element of such efforts, and encourages campaigns in the media that celebrate ethnic and cultural diversity in sports. 66. Concerning discrimination on the basis of nationality, in 2022, the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance urged the International Olympic Committee to change its position and recommend to sporting __________________ 44 45 46 47 48 49 16/24 See https://edoc.unibas.ch/78296/1/2020-09-17-Diss-final%20-edoc.pdf. See, for example, the uneven access to public spaces, including sports facilities, in Mexico, discussed in Sergio Alvarado Vazquez and Cesar Casiano Flores, “The perception of public spaces in Mexico city, a governance approach”, Journal of Urban Management, vol. 11, No. 1 (March 2022), pp. 72–81. Steven Bradbury and Dominic Conricode, “Racialisation and the inequitable experiences of racialised minority coaches in men’s professional football club youth academies in England”, International Review for the Sociology of Sport (July 2024). Yuval Yonay and Eran Shor, “Ethnic coexistence in deeply divided societies: the case of Arab athletes in the Hebrew media”, The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 55, No. 2 (2014), pp. 396–420. Contribution of the Centre for Sports and Human Rights. Australia, Human Rights Commission, Guidelines for Addressing Spectator Racism in Sports (Sydney, 2021) (see https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/ ahrc_spectator_racism_guide_a4_r7_.pdf). 24-14354