Statement

Jeroen Schokkenbroek studied law at the University of Leiden (The Netherlands) where he lectured in Constitutional and Administrative Law until 1993.

Other past functions in that period include: President of the Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists, representative of the ICJ with the Council of Europe and editor-in-chief of the Netherlands Human Rights Law Journal (NJCMBulletin).

Since 1993, he has held various functions in the Council of Europe Secretariat, mostly in the field of Human Rights, including that of Head of the Human Rights Development Department and Head of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

In November 2010, he was appointed Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral for Roma Issues. From October 2013 to February 2014, he also acted as Director ad interim of the Directorate of Democratic Citizenship and Participation in the Directorate General of Democracy. He subsequently served as Special Adviser of the Secretary General for Ukraine until 1 July 2014, when he was appointed Executive Secretary of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).

Since June 2018, Mr Schokkenbroek is Director of Anti-Discrimination in the Directorate General of Democracy of the Council of Europe.

Tamás Szücs is the Director for Culture, Creativity and Sport in DG EAC. Prior to that he was the Head of Representation of the European Commission in Hungary, Director for Strategy in DG COMM, and Head of Cabinet for two Commissioners in the Prodi and Barroso Commissions. As a diplomat he was the coordinator of Hungary’s Accession Negotiations and its first "Antici" official. He is the author and editor of several books and specialist publications on European integration, studied law, political science and aesthetics in Budapest and Oxford.

A graduate of Political Science from the Universities of Sofia (BG) and York (UK), Irena Guidikova has been working at the Council of Europe since 1994. Her carrier has taken her from youth policy and research, though the future of democracy in Europe, to cultural policy and inclusion and anti-discrimination. Her work involved producing standards on e-governance and e-voting, party financing and internet literacy, safeguarding diversity via film funding, and multi-level policies for intercultural integration of migrants and refugees. She has also been policy advisor in the Private Office of the Secretary General, the coordinator of the World Forum for Democracy and has lead the Inclusion and Anti-discrimination programmes of the Council of Europe, dealing with countering hate speech, LGBTI equality, migrant inclusion and minority rights. She is currently Head of the Children’s rights and Sport Values Department.

  Presentation

Gilles Quénéhervé  is an athlete and later a senior French civil servant.

200 meters specialist, he is a former co-holder with Christophe Lemaitre of the French record of this discipline with a time of 20s16, set on 3 September 1987 in Rome, Italy.

He became world champion at the 1987 World Athletics Championships, where he finished at the same time as Calvin Smith, the latter winning the photo finish. He also won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4x100m relay with Daniel Sangouma, Bruno Marie-Rose and Max Moriniere at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

In December 2010, Gilles Queneherve was admitted to ENA (“Ecole Nationale de l’Administration”) (Marie Curie class, 2011- 2012), becoming the first olympic medalist to join the prestigious institution. After an internship at the Prefecture of Vesoul, he was in charge of the office of the “Prefect of Côtes-d'Armor” from July 2013 to August 2015. In August 2015, he was appointed General secretary of the Prefecture in the Lot departement.

In May 2017, he became Deputy Prefect of Morlaix. On 10 December 2018, he was appointed Director of Sport at the Ministry of Sport, a central position in the current French model (sport for all and high-level sport) with the national federations.

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Christoph Lipp is the Vice-Commissioner of the Land riot forces in the German Federal Ministry of Interior and Home Affairs since 2004, with responsibilities for sport and security. He has been involved directly in organizing tournaments in Germany and with the German teams participating in tournaments abroad. Currently he is engaged in the preparations for the UEFA EURO 2024 tournament in Germany.

Since 2006 Mr Lipp is the representative of Germany to the European Convention on Spectator Violence Standing Committee (T-RV). He was elected Chairman of the T-RV Committee for two consecutive mandates. Mr. Lipp has a degree in law.

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George Mavrotas was an international water polo player (1984-2000) with 511 caps, participation in 5 Olympic Games, captain of the national team from 1995 to 2000 and member of the world selection in 1999. Concurrently with his athletic career, he attended the School of Chemical Engineering in the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He received his PhD diploma in 2000 with expertise in Operational Research and today he is an Associate Professor in NTUA.

From 2003 to 2010 he was member of the Greek Antidoping Organization. In the period 2015-2019 he was member of the Hellenic Parliament. In the the period 2016-2019 he was also member of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and from 2018 chairman of the Sub-Committee of Education Youth and Sport. In July 2019, he was designated as Secretary General of Sport in the Ministry of Culture and Sport. He is also Chairman in the National Platform for Sport Integrity (the Greek National Platform according to article 13 of the Macolin Convention of the Council of Europe) and from June 2021 he is the Chairman of the Follow-up Committee of the Macolin Convention.

The speaker has not provided a biography.  

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Antonio Parrilla is a functionary of the Sports Department of the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers; he is currently in service III, and is involved in both European and national projects, including the Erasmus + project for sport and issues relating to the fight against hate speech in the world of sport. Graduated in computer science, two masters in quality in Public Administration, two masters in CBRN Emergency Management, he teaches emergency communication at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Expert in emergency communication, social communication and strategic communication, in 2020 he became an Infodemic Manager certified by the WHO, for which he later acted as tutor for subsequent training courses. Previously he worked, again for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, at the classified communications center, at the correspondence task force of the Prime Minister and for the Information and Telematics Office.

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Raúl Rodríguez Porras is since 2020 Deputy Assistant Director for Legal Regime of Sport in the Spanish High Council for Sports (Ministry of Culture and Sport), he is also member of the Spanish Commission against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport.

He is mainly focused on national sports legal affairs helping the Spanish High Council of Sports to carry out its duties as a Public Body within the Spanish Administration. He also takes part in international meetings and has represented Spain in the T-S4 Committee and the Group of Copenhagen Group.

Previously, Raúl, as civil servant since 2004, has held numerous positions in the Spanish Administration including as Deputy Director in the Ministry of Labour and Migration (2008-2009), Senior Legal Adviser for Copyright in the Ministry of Culture and Sports (2009-2014), Secretary of the Spanish Copyright Commission (2015-2018) or Legal Adviser in the Spanish Nuclear Council (2018-2019).

A graduate of Political Science from the Universities of Sofia (BG) and York (UK), Irena Guidikova has been working at the Council of Europe since 1994. Her carrier has taken her from youth policy and research, though the future of democracy in Europe, to cultural policy and inclusion and anti-discrimination. Her work involved producing standards on e-governance and e-voting, party financing and internet literacy, safeguarding diversity via film funding, and multi-level policies for intercultural integration of migrants and refugees. She has also been policy advisor in the Private Office of the Secretary General, the coordinator of the World Forum for Democracy and has lead the Inclusion and Anti-discrimination programmes of the Council of Europe, dealing with countering hate speech, LGBTI equality, migrant inclusion and minority rights. She is currently Head of the Children’s rights and Sport Values Department.

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Triantafillos Loukarelis, born in Athens 51 years ago, of Greek and Italian nationality, graduated in 1995 in Political Sciences - International Politics at the "La Sapienza" University of Rome. Currently Executive Director of UNAR (National Anti Discrimination Office) the Italian Equality Body member of the Equinet Network and Chair of the CDADI (Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion) of the Council of Europe. Former Head of the Technical Secretariat of the Department for Equal Opportunities and Youth Policies of the Italian Government, in the recent past he was Head of External Relations and International Affairs of the Italian National Authority for Children. In the past, among others, he held positions in the Ministry of Agriculture - Italian representative to the Executive Committee of the ECA (European Commission on Agriculture) of FAO - and in the Ministry of Environment - Director of the Observatory for European and International Affairs. For several years he was a volunteer of the Italian Committee for UNICEF and then became a member of the Board of Directors and later Head of the Bureau and General Management. Expert in EU funds, for several years he was appointed as project manager for Euro-Mediterranean projects (EUMEDIS).

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The speaker has not provided a biography. 

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Rodrigo Cavaleiro  is the Vice-chair of the Committee on Safety and Security at Sports Events of the Council of Europe (Saint-Denis Convention), after representing Portugal at the Council of Europe since 2013. A senior Police Officer of the Portuguese Public Security Police (PSP), which he joined in 1998, Rodrigo Cavaleiro was invited in 2018 by the Secretary of State for Youth and Sport to establish the Authority for the Prevention and Fight Against Sport-related Violence, institution with a lead role sanctioning and cooperating on a multi-agency environment to prevent violence, intolerance and hate speech at sports events. Rodrigo has also collaborated as an expert at the Pan European Think Tank on Safety and Security at sports events, Interpol Stadia Knowledge Management System and TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission), lecturing in several national and international training courses around safety and security at sports events.

Lena Gustafson Wiberg, from Stockholm, Sweden, works in the Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) Department at Supporters Direct Europe, where she runs the UEFA Academy SLO Programme and provides support to SLOs all around Europe. In addition, she works as an SLO for Djurgårdens IF and the Swedish national teams. Lena is also a former board member of SFSU, the Swedish Football Supporter Union.

Francine Hetherington Raveney is an expert in the fields of gender equality, co-productions, communication and sport. She obtained a Master’s in Women’s Studies at Oxford University and then went on to carry out doctoral studies in France. Since 2000, she has worked in a number of international organisations, including WHO Europe and the Council of Europe, where she is currently Deputy Executive Secretary for EPAS with a special focus on gender equality, anti-discrimination work, managing the EPAS consultative committee and the mapping of sports facilities. In 2012, she founded and was Executive Director of the European Women’s Audiovisual Network. Between 2014 and 2020 she managed the gender equality working group for Eurimages and oversaw the adoption of the Council of Europe Recommendation on Gender Equality in the Audiovisual Sector (2017) and other gender-related work. She is also an advocate for well-being through sport, and sport as a preventative health measure.

Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb is the first woman referee in the Bundesliga, she officiated across all the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and Football Association (FA) Competitions. She was a FIFA referee, and was ranked as a UEFA women's elite category referee.

Ms Steinhaus-Webb was chosen by UEFA as the referee for the 2017 UEFA Women's Champions League Final and officiated in the top-level Bundesliga, for the 2017–18 season, making her the first female referee in the league's history. When Ms Steinhaus-Webb officiated her first Bundesliga match, the hosts offered promotional half-price "Bibiana tickets" to female fans. She was named the female referee of the year by DFB in 2018.

She has been the target of abuse and controversial incidents on several occasions, including a physical confrontation from Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola while serving as the fourth official in a 2014 match, and an accidental groping of her breast by a player in 2010. Fortuna Düsseldorf's Kerem Demirbay was suspended for five matches by his club after making a sexist comment towards Ms Steinhaus-Webb, who had sent him off for a second yellow card. IRIB, the state broadcaster of Iran, cancelled their broadcast of a Bundesliga fixture in February 2019 due to her being the head referee. The television channel had previously broadcast a she match officiated, but cut to crowd shots instead of using the close-up shots in the normal feed.

Ms Steinhaus-Webb was appointed to officiate the 2020 DFL-Supercup between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund on 30 September 2020. She announced that the match would be the last of her refereeing career. She is a trained police officer with the rank of Chief Inspector.

Edouard Choquet is a professional basketball player since 2007.

Took part in FIBA TimeOut program from 2017-2019.

Master’s Degree Leadership & Management.

Launched Quan Sports in 2020. Agency created to provide a wide range of services for athletes (mental health, physical performance, transition, communication…).

Nicolas Picquet is a journalist. He worked from 2016 to 2021 in the sport department of Canal + filming and directing documentaries. In November 2021, with 6 other former journalists of Canal +, he created Seiya Production to produce and realize documentaries for differents TV channels and broadcasting platforms.

He is currently working on a documentary about the hatred and harrassment that tennis players are receiving through social media. A documentary that will be broadcast in the last days of the 2022’s edition of Roland Garros. In that context, he interviewed a dozen of players to understand what they are undergoing, to know how they were using social media and what they are expecting form the tennis authorities.

Nagin Ravand is a young female minority footballer dreaming of changing the world through football, the same way football changed the world of a little Afghan refugee girl in Denmark.

I am a 22-year-old Danish-Afghan who fled Afghanistan as a child. Today I am a student of BSc. Education Science whilst studying to become a professional football coach as well. Currently I hold the UEFA B-License and work for Europes biggest football retailer as project lead on making other football enthusiast's football dreams come true. I have created and developed several sustainable female football departments and initiatives in Denmark.

I am using my voice in society for the purpose of empowering and engaging minority girls and women and attracting them to the football pitch. My goal is to equalize the playing field and change the norms and the image of the ideal footballer by developing the needed diverse representation. I have been recognized for my dedication on a national and international level through several awards and prizes, and today I hold a seat at the table in several boardrooms as an advisor on inclusion. I am an ambassador of the Danish FA and the Danish Ministry of Culture along my position as city representative in the city's Committee of Equality & Diversity. I stand for challenging the odds and one I dream of one day coaching the Afghanistan Women's National Football team!

Filippo Veglio is Senior Expert in UEFA’s Football and Social Responsibility (FSR) Division since September 2021. His responsibilities are centred around the development and implementation of the organisation’s Football Sustainability Strategy 2030, which aims to initiate, inspire and accelerate collective action to respect human rights and the environment within European football. Filippo leads cross-divisional projects designed and rolled out in partnership with stakeholders across the football ecosystem. Previous to joining UEFA, Filippo spent 16 years at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led community of 200 of the world’s leading businesses, where he was a member of the Senior Management Team. Filippo was formerly a professional tennis player.

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Bàlint Jósa works in the nongovernmental sector since he was allowed to work. He holds an MA in political science, with a special focus on Civic Society. He worked as educational program coordinator and intercultural trainer for his organisation for over 12 years, managing over 300 national and 100 international trainings and worked in diverse projects for other NGOs, companies and Institutions. He published several articles and a couple of training handbooks..

As a board member of FARE, his area of expertise is the recognition of hate symbols (chants, gestures, etc) the engagement with clubs and fans (including violent ultras) and anything educational in this area. The FARE Network is partner with UEFA and FIFA on combating racism in football, and represents organisations that tackle discrimination in football and use football as a vehicle to foster social inclusion and promote diversity. FARE acts as platform for its members to connect and address cross-border issues in the field of anti-discrimination, social inclusion, integration, diversity, LGBTI inclusion, and gender equality across all levels of football. Committed to bring about positive social change, Bàlint works with over 110 NGOs, youth organisations, ethnic minority groups, supporters groups, amateur and professional football clubs, national football associations in 38 countries.

In his work he uses tools such as artivism, sports, gamification, Non-formal education, volunteer programs, campaigns, Forum Theater, online tools to empower marginalized groups and youth and works on campaigns challenging extremist views and narratives. Beside the Subjective Values Foundation, a Hungarian NGO he co-funded in 2002, that is a member of FARE since 2014, he got elected into FARE's board. He also holds a seat in the Supervisory board of the National Youth Council and previously in Amnesty International Hungary. Currently working for UNITED as director since 2018 and a German lead Informal network called Generation Europe: The Academy.

Rosario Coco is national Secretary of Gaynet, an Italian association of LGBTI journalists focused on media advocacy. He is also project manager for the LGBTI sector of AICS (Associazione Italiana Cultura Sport). His academic career transitioned from philosophical studies and bioethics to sport and business administration. From 2017 to 2019 he coordinated the EU project “Outsport”, promoted by AICS, an EU-wide research and pedagogical project providing the first set of European data on the experience of LGBTI people in sports, in cooperation with the German Sport University of Cologne. He currently operates as a trainer in the government supported lifelong professional training for media operators in the field of stereotypes and discrimination perpetrated by language.

He is also a football player in the local leagues of the Italian football federation, and has been noted by the Italian media as the first federation member to come out as a gay football player.

Sophie Kwasny is the Head of the Sport Division of the Council of Europe responsible for the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) and the promotion and implementation of ground-breaking legal instruments upholding the integrity and values of sport. Combating doping and the manipulation of sport competitions, and promoting an integrated safety, security and service approach at sports events are the key aims of the three Council of Europe Sport Conventions. She is a graduate of the Strasbourg Law University and has been working for the Council of Europe for over 20 years on a variety of topics ranging from data protection to prisons’ reforms, or from the independence of the judiciary to nationality law.