The Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic spoke at the opening of the scientific conference “Sport, Health, Environment – Diplomacy in Sport” and emphasized the importance of equality in all areas of social life, assessing that, for five years already, this conference expresses a true need of every individual – the necessity for future generations to learn equality, including the field of sport. “Equality is not an abstract concept separated from society, it pervades all aspects of life, and just like sport, has a huge role in the education of young people who learn tolerance and unity,” she said, stressing that Law on Sport prescribes equal participation in sports activities, which means – without discrimination.
The conference was opened by the Minister of Environment, Goran Trivan, who said that there is no successful athlete without a healthy environment, while the plenary session was attended by Director of the Directorate for Democracy of the Council of Europe Snežana Marković Samardžić, Vice President of the European Athletic Federation Jean Grasia, Ivanka Gajić, Dean of the Faculty of Sport “University Union – Nikola Tesla”, that organized the conference, as well as the vice-dean for teaching Dragan Atanasov.
At the special introductory panel, Snežana Marković Samardžić, Director of the Directorate for Democracy of the Council of Europe, emphasized the role of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, which is considered very important in this European organization, and stated that human rights in sport is one of the priorities of the Council of Europe, who issued special recommendations related to hate speech in Europe. On the same panel, Commissioner emphasized the importance of combating violence against children in sports, since athletes are the most common models for young people, and also that is necessary to work more intensively on women’s equality in this area. Commissioner mentioned the improvement of the position of Para Olympic athletes and the equation of athletes with disabilities when it comes to national recognitions and income as positive steps.
