human rights & the european soccer championships | euro 2008

Soccer or football? I was socialized with Aussie-ruled football and I am a graduate of the home of the Fighting Irish, a famous college football team at  the University of Notre Dame du Lac. Soccer seems to be the game but football appears to be the name. Be that as it may, just like any other aspect of life, soccer/football and the Championships warrant a human rights perspective. 

Sport is a human right. It is covered by a number of human rights treaties – both overtly and covertly; the more prominent examples are the “right to play” enshrined for children (CRC, Article 31) as well as the right to sport in the recently entered into force Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, Article 30.5). In some countries it no doubt is such an intrinsic part of national tradition that one could rightly assert that it comes under protection through the right to culture (CESCR, Article 15).

Ersatz-religion 

In Central Europe the saying goes that soccer/football is an Ersatz-religion. That said, the freedom of religion or belief is a classic relative human right – it comes with caveats that ensure that concerns and rights of the public at large are not violated. Compare for an absolute human right the right to life, which may not be limited in any way.

The depth of soccer/football belief is poignantly reflected in a case pending before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. In Maslova and Nalbandov versus Russia, the first applicant sustained several blows to her face, administered with her CSKA Moscow soccer scarf, she was subjected to physical and psychological coercion and raped, among others. The interrogator subsequently insulted her with the second applicant’s scarf and interrogators forced her to curse this soccer club. Later, the second applicant was also forced to curse his favorite team, the CSKA Moscow soccer club. This case of – presumably – inhuman and degrading treatment shows the depth of emotional attachment that this sport can have and makes the potential for commensurate rage obvious. 

Human Rights Discourse

At the level of general human rights discourse, the comparison with this year’s other large-scale sport-event, the summer Olympic games in the People’s Republic of China, is baffling. Whilst commentators are outdoing each other in assessing the permissibility of athletes attending the Games in Beijing, there is no reference to human rights when it comes to the Euro 2008^TM Championships. What is also striking is that in the case of the former the spirit of participation and peace trumps almost everything whereas the coverage of the European event – at least from an Austrian media perspective – seems far more nationalistic and less brotherly – and sisterly for that matter! 

Security 

As is to be expected of a magnanimous sports event, a lot of effort has gone into planning and – as I type – implementation. One of the more intriguing preparatory documents is the National Security Plan, which was prepared by Switzerland as the main host. It describes, among others, the “tendencies” of Hooliganism enumerating six characteristics, which include public criticism of police work and utilizing legal remedies against restrictions in accessing game venues. In human rights terms the former is protected by freedom of speech and the latter by a right to a legal remedy; in Europe that would be Article 13 of the European Human Rights Convention. 
 
Generally, it seems that both public discourse and ensuing measures taken are hugely impacted by a post-9-11 paradigm. Security trumps almost anything else. The “evils” of this world are projected onto Hooligans. Not wanting to diminish the severity of the harm that Hooligans have done in the past it is striking how high the public’s alleged need for a “demon” has soared within the last few years. Simply posing the question, whether the course of action taken “against” so-called Hooligans – including a special data base, the possibility of preventive confinement and the re-imposition of border checks – seems to be touching the public nerve beyond tolerability. 

Hooliganism

The Austrian police has an unofficial motto for the Championships: “Herzlich willkommen Fußball-Fans, keine Chance den Hooligans.” (“A warm welcome to soccer/football fans, no leverage for hooligans.”) The targeting of allegedly violence-prone persons is built on three pillars. The first is a special database with the names of persons who have previously been engaged in Holliganism, including violent attacks on property both in Austria and abroad – the databases of other countries are obviously inter-connected – combined with “evidence” that similar attacks on property or the physical integrity of others may be expected during the Championships. Based on a restraining order these persons may not access the stadium(s) during games and may receive an order to report to a specified police office during a game. There, allegedly violence-prone persons will receive a police instruction about being compliant with the laws – Gefährdeansprache, Section 49.c SPG. 

Not only does the restriction of the freedom of movement contradict the postulate of the Austrian Constitutional Act on Personal Freedom (PersFrBV-G) but somewhere in all this the presumption of innocence gets trampled on, too. Ahead of the Championships, the Austrian government contemplated preventive detention – Präventivhaft. While adjustments were made to the original draft, the pertinent Section of the Security Police Act (SPG, Section 49.c) is still entitled preventive detention in the Act’s table of content and the regulation is not that far off from the original. The police instruction might still be specified by a Ministerial decree in the coming days and weeks to set a minimum time to ensure that allegedly violence-prone persons cannot go near a game venue. 

A noteworthy fact in all this is that formerly categories were used for soccer/football fans generally, such as Type A – soccer/football enthusiast but not ostentatious, Type B – generally not violence-prone but increased likelihood in certain circumstances such as alcohol consumption and Type C – no interest in the game, just wants to create an uproar. In times of green, yellow and red security alerts and a division of the world by way of an axis that is good-non-terrorist and bad-terrorist it is noticeable how big a need to categorize people and single-out of apparently “bad” people we have become. 

Terrorism

Just to flag the issue, the chapter on terrorism in the National Security Plan would merit substantial critical review. 

The general tendencies in security policies, particularly data & video surveillance echo throughout the Championship’s security measures. The amendments to the Austrian Security Police Act are not temporary but potentially apply to all major “events.” You define “major event” and I will guess which data will be connected to find potentially violence-prone persons. Not only is it possible to utilize now existing legislation for a plethora of other occasions, it is also comparatively easy to have Parliament slightly amend these provisions to serve other security purposes. (Granted, legislative amendments are generally not a big deal, it just seems that the ground in the Austrian Security Police Act has been especially well prepared.)  

Back to the database: Germany built a similar one ahead of the World Championships in 2006. Entitled criminal violent persons sport File (Datei Gewalttäter Sport). Taking the title literally, I would assume that boxers and others would have to automatically be included in this database. But possibly I am stretching it. In any event, recently the Administrative Court in Hannover ruled that the database was illegal. 

Cross-border Cooperation 

European integration is progressing and efforts obviously include increased police cooperation, too. The Prüm Convention is just one of a plethora of treaties, which basically permit foreign police personnel to act on Austrian territory – and vice-versa. What happens if one uses excessive force or a weapon? Do they all speak German, it is after all the Amtssprache according to the Constitutional Act. 

In addition to Prüm, Austria has signed a bilateral agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany a while back. It specifies and slightly broadens the Prüm Convention. Again, measures were put in place – well before the Championships but conveniently utilized for the first time now – that will remain applicable well after and provide considerable latitude to the State under the security paradigm.

A sore side effect of the Championships seems to be receiving adequate media attention: Austrian border control is temporarily in place again even at Schengen borders. Apparently it is possible to detect “Hooligans” as they enter into the country. Immigration officers have the leverage to deny them access. Obviously, in addition to the sharing of personal information, police and other authorities are also sharing data of number plates of notorious drivers. 

Private Security Firms & Security Standards 

The State’s monopoly of power is somewhat limited when private security entities take on parts of the authorized personnel. Private security firm personnel received a two-day training to become “qualified security guards.” Any expert – including the Council of Europe’s Committee on the Prevention of Torture – stresses that quality training and learning on the job are critically necessary to ensure high security standards. With all due respect: how does one expect people with two-day training to respond to a crowd of unruly soccer/football fans?

The police strategy – mission philosophy – is DDD: dialogue – de-escalation – enforcement (in German: Dialog – Deeskalation – Durchsetzung). All fair and well. Just not sure how all this will work based on two-day training and with regard to dialogue: not sure that everyone speaks German … 

Violence, generally  

With all the focus on allegedly violence-prone persons called Hooligans one is made to believe that all other forms of violence disappear during major events such as Championships. Sadly, quite the opposite is happening. Domestic violence rates soar during times of soccer/football events. At the last minute, the Vienna City Council announced last week that it would increase the service for victims of violence. In a human rights based approach the emphasis would have been on prevention and should have started months ago. Another human rights concern that is sorely absent from public discourse is substance abuse. Austria was reprimanded by the pertinent UN expert body a little while back that alcohol consumption is too high, as are other substance abuses – including nicotine. 

Discrimination 

The victims of domestic violence are predominantly women and children. So: what about women and soccer/football? Under equality rules, which include the obligation of the State to actively contest stereotypes, women should be able to access soccer/football games as players on the field.
 
On another front, it appears that the issue of sex workers and trafficking is comparatively well recognized in the realm of soccer/football events. However, while these human rights violations are a constant occurrence, it does not appear that trafficking has to per se increase during major events. Even so, increased police surveillance will likely increase the victimization of trafficked women rather than target the traffickers. 

Yet another aspect is the involvement of women in media coverage of soccer/football. The Austrian daily Kurier had one of its main – male – reports write up that fact the other day. Not surprisingly but nevertheless a discrimination, the piece focused on the looks of the female journalists and then added their “unquestionable” competence. Also, the head coach of the Austrian team who is usually referred to as “Hicke” – short for his surname Hickersberger – or Pepi – short for his first name Josef, all of a sudden turned into “Sir Josef.” Apparently men have a need to separate women by at least one level to maintain security. 

UEFA^TM is providing anti-racism training as part of the Championship. Great. Austria could have added to that in the preparatory phase, there is ample work to do. 

Vienna prides itself in hosting the life ball annually. It also celebrates a Christopher-Street-Parade equivalent once a year. However, the need to promote anti-discrimination and the inclusion of gays in mainstream soccer/football was not covered in the period leading up to the Championships. 

Third to last point of discrimination: in yet another piece, the Kurier sounded the “alarm” over a potential onslaught of beggars during the tournament. While groups of people are forced to come to Austria to beg, having to pass on all their pittance to a “gang” boss, it seems unlikely that individuals on the margins of society would know of the Championships, let alone make their way to Austria because of that. Again, media coverage fails to target the culprit: gangs organizing the trafficking of human beings for the purpose of begging on the gangs’ behalf.  

With mainstreaming issues pushed to the sidelines, it is no wonder that persons with disabilities will be largely absent from the Championships. Two easy-does-it possibilities for inclusion come to mind: the Austrian team will be accompanied by children as it will make its way into the stadium, including a child with disabilities should have been easy. Also, sign language is recognized in the Austrian Constitutional Act, there are ways to include that in the theme song or in the singing of the anthem. 

Finally, an obvious point: children will be part and parcel of the Championships. A plethora of possibilities to create inclusive and human rights based role-models could have been created and were not. 

Human Rights “Goal” 

Let’s just hope that the playing to fears will be limited while the ball is rolling! A unique opportunity to create a human rights based mega-event was missed, which is particularly demoralizing in light of the upcoming Olympic games and the human rights discourse that started well before the Olympic torch was lit.