Serie A, Italy’s top football league, has adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
This was decided at an institutional meeting entitled “The Fight against Antisemitism in Football: European Agreements” held in the premises of the Lega Serie A on the initiative of Milena Santerini, national coordinator for the fight against antisemitism.
During the meeting, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), Italt’s National Anti-Discrimination Office (UNAR) and Professor Santerini proposed that Serie A teams should include the definition in their regulations and proceed to implement the relevant measures proposed in Italy’s national strategy on combating antisemitism.
Serie A pointed out some legislative difficulties in combating the events that sometimes take place in stadiums. In any case, it gave its full support and openness, referring to a future meeting in the presence of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) representatives of the 20 clubs which comprise the leagye
On the subject of antisemitism, the League also made itself available to organise training courses and to involve the clubs with even greater incisiveness, “sharing the importance of including a regulation within the clubs’ code of ethics as a key element in combating anti-Semitism, and of drawing up a dedicated memorandum of understanding to combat prejudice, hate speech and expressions of violence”.
Participants included Lega Serie A President Paolo Dal Pino, the UK Government’s Independent Advisor on anti-Semitism Lord John Mann, UCEI General Secretary Uriel Perugia, the events manager of the Shoah Memorial in Milan Talia Bidussa, journalist Paola Severini, and Unar representatives.
