The European Union, in a statement delivered on 2 July 2026 at the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, reaffirmed its commitment to combat all forms of racism in sport, highlighting the EU's Anti-Racism Strategy and the role of sport as a catalyst for social cohesion. The statement was made during an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism.
The EU's Anti-Racism Strategy identifies sport as an environment where racism and hate speech are prone to occur and develops targeted actions to counter this phenomenon. The EU also sees sport as a social space where stereotypes can be challenged and values such as respect and equality promoted. To address disparities affecting equal participation, the EU supports education-based initiatives and youth sports through its 'Erasmus+ Sport' programme, promoting inclusion for groups facing barriers and addressing racism, xenophobia, and gender discrimination.
The EU thanked the Special Rapporteur for her intersectional approach, particularly regarding participation of women and girls in sport, and asked what best practices she has identified for addressing intersectional discrimination between race and gender in grassroots sports.
Regarding a second report, the EU recalled the words of the previous Special Rapporteur, noting that the Russian Federation has sought to justify its military invasion and territorial aggression in Ukraine on the purported basis of eliminating neo-Nazism, and that such use of neo-Nazism as a pretext seriously undermines genuine attempts to combat this ideology.