A/69/340 2. Regional frameworks and initiatives 38. The Special Rapporteur appreciates the extensive work of regional organizations in combating racism and related intolerance, and welcomes the development of groundbreaking frameworks to fight racism at sporting events, as well as specific initiatives aimed at educating stakeholders and raising awareness of the issue. 39. The Special Rapporteur was made aware of the Media against Racism in Sport programme, a joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe . 31 Having recognized that media coverage of sport did not always reflect social and cultural diversity, the programme is aimed at including diversity and non-discrimination in media production and content design. In order to enhance the capacities of media professionals to develop an inclusive approach to media production, the programme’s online resource centre hosts the European contact database, which contains information on more than 450 media professionals in various parts of Europe. Furthermore, the resource centre provides virtual material on several topics of diversity and non-discrimination, including practical examples of media production, journalism, media training, media literacy education and editorial management. 40. The European Parliament in 2006 adopted the Declaration on tackling racism in football, 32 with the support of its 423 members. In the Declaration, the European Parliament recognized the serious incidents of racism that had occurred in football matches across Europe, noting that football players, like other workers, had the right to a racism-free working environment, as set down in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. Pursuant to article 13 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, the European Parliament, in paragraph 1 of the Declaration, strongly condemned all forms of racism at football matches, both on and off the field. It also noted that the popularity of football offered a new and continuous opportunity to tackle racism and, in paragraphs 3 and 4, call ed on national football associations, leagues, clubs, players’ unions and supporters’ groups to apply UEFA best practice, such as its 10-point plan of action, and for those with a high profile in football to speak out regularly against racism. In paragraphs 5 and 6, the European Parliament encouraged UEFA and all other competition organizers in Europe to consider imposing sanctions on national football associations and clubs whose supporters or players commit racist offences, including removal of persistent offenders from their competitions, and to ensure that referees have the option of stopping or abandoning matches in the event of serious racist abuse . 41. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, a subsidiary body of the Council of Europe, adopted in 2008 general policy recommendation No. 12, 33 which is focused on combating racism and racial discrimination in sports . The document contains an extensive and inclusive set of recommendations on policies to combat racism and racial discrimination in sport, to be instituted at the national level by States members of the Council of Europe. Members are encouraged, inter alia, to create national mechanisms to record racist incidents in sporting events and __________________ 31 32 33 14-59616 See http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/mars/default_en.asp (accessed 21 July 2014). P6_DCL/2005/0069, available from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=// EP//NONSGML+TA+P6-TA-2006-0080+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN. CRI(2009)5, available from http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/ecri/activities/GPR/EN/ Recommendation_N12/e-RPG%2012%20-%20A4.pdf. 13/21