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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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“Fight against Racism and Violence through Diversity in Sport” conference opens

Belgrade, 20 October 2009

Serbian Minister of Youth and Sport Snezana Samardzic-Markovic opened today the two day international conference “Fight against Racism and Violence through Diversity in Sport”.

Samardzic-Markovic requested a minute of silence from the 150 participants at the conference to honour the young people who became a victim of sports violence in Serbia recently.

She said that sport should be about healthy competition, adding that unfortunately sporting events attract violence and hooliganism, and it is the aim of the conference to create a joint international strategy to fight against this sport related violence.

She said that the conference is being held to determine guidelines for the fight against racism and violence and find solutions to the problem of indentifying perpetrators and punishing their violent behaviour.

She said that violence in sports signifies that there is violence in society, stressing that society as a whole must fight against violence and racism.

She said that the government, media and sports organisations must form a partnership to deal with this problem, adding that the government has formed a Council for the Fight against Sports Violence, which is headed by Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic.

The Minister said that this conference should offer answers to questions about future steps, not only for Serbia but also for Europe.

The conference is being attended by Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Director General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport and Coordinator for Intercultural Dialogue of the Council of Europe, Slovene Minister of Education and Sport Igor Luksic, Spanish State Secretary of Sport Jaime Lissavetzky Díez and Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Djurdja Adlesic.