In anticipation of the European Football Championship, which will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine in 2012, an international roundtable on combating racism in stadiums took place in Kiev. The roundtable was dedicated to the development of practical measures aimed at reducing the xenophobia of football fans and promoting the values of tolerance and mutual respect among them. Cooperationin this fieldbetween official European institutions, such as UEFA and FARE, the local football federations, fan clubs, human rights organizations and minority communities have been discussed.

Keynote speakers at the round table were: Dr. Rafal Pankovski, head of the Polish human rights organization, "Never again;" the official representative of FARE in Eastern Europe, Pavel Klimenko; a representative of the R. Marochkina Human Rights Center, Head of the "Social Action" center's project "Without Borders!" Maxim Butkevich; director of the East European Development Institute, Mridula Ghosh; and member of the General Council of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, Vyacheslav Likhachev. Theroundtable was attended by representatives from different regions of Ukraine, as well as guests from Russia and Belarus.

We would like to remind that the Chairman of the EAJC General Council Josef Zissels represents interests of national minorities in the Ukrainian Committee on Preparation for Euro 2012. Currently, the Kiev office EAJC is working on a report on xenophobia and security in the context of the championship in Poland and Ukraine.