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Liverpool FC will welcome more than 100 representatives from elite sports across the UK and USA to Anfield this week for the United Nations and Eradicate Hate Global Sports Working Group Summit.
In late 2022, LFC became a member of the Eradicate Hate Global Sports Working Group, which works to deploy the powerful voices of sport to foster acceptance and mutual respect, and counter hate speech around the world.
In December 2022, the UN and Eradicate Hate Global Summit Sports Working Group launched its Plan of Action for Sports: The Game Plan with the high-level event at the UN HQ in New York City, USA, with LFC’s senior equality, diversity and inclusion manager, Rishi Jain, attending and announcing the club’s commitment to the plan.
The Game Plan is a collaborative effort between the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect and the Eradicate Hate Global Summit aimed at exploring how to most effectively use the international love of sports teams and their athletes to counter the growing global proliferation of hate speech and, by extension, extremism and hate-fuelled violence.
The UN Eradicate Hate Sports Summit in the UK will bring together like-minded representatives from across football and the wider world of elite sport with the aim of working together to learn and share best practice in their collective commitment to use sport as a method to tackle hate speech and ultimately prevent violence and atrocities.
LFC is committed to tackling the challenges that remain in sport and taking proactive steps to stop the escalation of hate speech and behaviours through its ongoing Red Together programme, which encompasses the club’s equality, diversity and inclusion work.
Hosted by Sky Sports and BBC 5Live presenter Kelly Cates, the event on Tuesday April 25 will include representatives from Premier League clubs and football authorities, and several major UK and US sports will come together at the event, including Formula 1, Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), NASCAR, Rugby England, and Rugby Football League.
The United Nations under-secretary-general and special advisor on the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, and co-chairs of the Eradicate Hate Sports Working Group, Laura Ellsworth and Michele Rosenthal, will also attend the summit and will address the room, with personal testimonies from those affected most by these atrocities as well as panel sessions with US and UK sports organisations.
“We are looking forward to hosting this summit at Anfield,” said Jain. “We were proud to be involved in the launch of The Game Plan at the end of last year and this is another step in the right direction in eradicating hate, not just from sports but from society as a whole.
“Hosting this summit is a continued part of the club’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and driving forward positive change. We look forward to welcoming representatives from across the world of sport to work together to collectively play our part in tackling hate speech.”
Nderitu said: “Countering hate speech is a priority for the United Nations. We know how easily words can feed xenophobia, racism, anti-religious and gender-based hatred, and how they can ultimately result in discrimination, hate crimes and violence.
“We also know that we can counter hate speech while upholding fundamental rights and freedoms. Sport has a unique power to stand up against hate, harnessing the diversity of players, teams and supporters who come together as a community.”
