the ghetto and played with or trained the children we work with. Twice a year, together with the Romanian Football Federation, we conduct children’s tournaments against racism and violence and we also organize exhibition games with famous journalists and personalities. UEFA has in the past years sent a very strong message against racism and violence in the stadiums. Stronger than any European government. UEFA’s president is the only visible European leading figure who has dared to say openly and bluntly that antigypsyism is a problem that needs to be fought seriously. I still believe sports are magic. But I have learned that magic is simply not enough to stop violence and racism. For that we need serious and
constant campaigning and education. We need governments and inter-governmental institutions to step in and do what some sports bodies have already been doing for years. Recognizing that there is racism and violence in our societies and in sports is important, but only a first step. What we need most now is to fight against them, openly and efficiently. We need to feel that we are all playing in the same team. Valeriu Nicolae, a Romanian Roma, is the president and founder of the Policy Center for Roma and Minorities in Bucharest. The Centre won the 2012 UNICEF Sport for Education Beyond Sport Award for its work. More information can be found at www.policycenter.eu.
Eurocup 2012 Red card for human trafficking in Ukraine
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hen a record one and a half million fans streamed to the cities of Poland and Ukraine this summer for the UEFA European Football Championship, the party spirit ran high. But international crowds like this also represent an opportunity for traffickers in human beings. Years before the first kick-off in Kyiv, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine began working with the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to ensure that the Eurocup, an occasion for celebration for many, would not become the beginning of a nightmare for others, women abducted for prostitution, men subjected to forced labour or children forced into begging. Taking advantage of the experience of Germany, host of the World Cup in 2006, and Austria, co-host with Switzerland of the Eurocup in 2008, which were both successful in using tighter police controls and campaigns by NGOs to prevent the number of trafficking victims from rising, the Project Co-ordinator organized study trips to these countries for representatives of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. After the visits, a working group of law enforcement representatives worked with the Project Co-ordinator to develop anti-trafficking provisions, which were included in Ukraine’s official action plan for ensuring the security of the Eurocup 2012. They included stepping up prevention of trafficking and illegal migration, building the capacity of the Interior Ministry to protect fans from these crimes and informing visitors arriving in Ukraine about the dangers and measures taken. Starting in November 2011, 48 public trolleybuses in the four Ukrainian cities hosting the games, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv, carried large advertisements on their sides proclaiming the criminal nature of trafficking offences and naming the services offered by the Ukrainian state to assist victims.
A month before the start of the Eurocup games, the Project Co-ordinator, in co-operation with the Interior Ministry and the State Border Guard Service, produced 500,000 information cards warning of the dangers of human trafficking, including legal and penal aspects of the crime. Visitors entering Ukraine to see the games received a card upon passing the state border. The Project Co-ordinator has been conducting a larger anti-trafficking campaign since 2009 to help Ukraine implement the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings. An important achievement of the threeyear project has been Ukraine’s adoption of a comprehensive anti-trafficking law in September 2011 and a regulation on a national referral mechanism early this year. The Eurocup host city Donetsk is located in one of two regions in which a pilot victim referral mechanism was developed under the project. This article was prepared on the basis of information provided by Tetyana Rudenko and Oksana Polyuga of the office of the Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. The anti-trafficking information card distributed to football fans at state borders can be seen at www. osce.org/ukraine/90545.
OSCE Magazine 3/2012
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