Event in support of Human Rights by Barça and its Foundation with vice-president Rafael Yuste and Jules Kounde at Barcelona Port

The Bosch i Alsina Quay in Barcelona Port was the chosen venue for the event to present the “Shirt that Tells the Most Stories”, the global campaign launched a few days ago by FC Barcelona and its Foundation to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The event was attended by vice-president Rafael Yuste, the director general of the Foundation, Dr. Marta Segú, the president of Barcelona Port, Lluís Salvadó, and men’s first team player Jules Kounde, as well as the social activist Mamadou Dia, institutional representatives and various social entities.

The campaign, headed by the Barça Identity Area with the aim of promoting the Club's and Foundation's values, from Barcelona to New York and Tokyo, tells the story of millions of people whose fundamental rights have been violated and have had to leave their homes due to war, persecution or extreme poverty in search of a dignified life in another country. Barcelona Port was chosen because so many of these migrants have to cross the sea in precarious boats. Many arrive at their destination wearing the Barça shirt and others, unfortunately, don't even get there. This shirt is a symbol of these people and the Barça Identity Area strengthens Barça's DNA via these messages and initiatives that transmit values that go beyond football. 

The tag-line “The shirt that Tells the Most Stories” is the main element of the campaign to denounce the continuous violation of human rights in all corners of the planet and the aim is to appeal to everyone, because 75 years after the Declaration Universal Human Rights, we are still very far from achieving them.

This campaign aims to highlight the projects being run by the FC Barcelona Foundation and Barça's social commitment to defence of human rights and to support for people, especially children, who are living in situations of major social vulnerability. A campaign that showcases the social and charity aspects that explain why Barça is "More than a Club".

The campaign started last January 4 with the exhibition of the silhouette of a Barça shirt inside a methacrylate box in Plaça de la Universitat, Barcelona. This structure features a QR code to access the campaign video and will also link to the Foundation's website so people can learn about its work.

During the event, a structure with the symbolic outline of the Barça shirt was placed on the sea in representation of the dangerous journeys that so many migrants make in the world. This structure has panels containing with the testimonies of several young people who have arrived in Catalonia and who participate in the inclusion programs that the FC Barcelona Foundation is running, as well as the story of Mamadou Dia, a young Senegalese man who left his country in a boat and arrived on the shores of Europe in 2006. He is currently a writer and activist and has created an organisation in Senegal called Hahatay, which collaborates with the Barça Foundation, precisely with the aim of creating opportunities for young people in his country of origin and preventing them from risking their lives on this dangerous journey towards a European dream that in many cases is never fulfilled.

The event was opened by the president of Barcelona Port, who welcomed those present, and the general director of the Foundation, who explained the aim of the campaign. After Mamadou Dia described his life experiences as an example of the path that millions of people around the world have to take in search of a more dignified life, Vice President Rafael Yuste closed the event.

Kounde then handed over a Barça shirt to activist Mamadou Dia as a symbol of Barça's support for the human rights of all vulnerable people who risk their lives for the chance to hope for a better future.

STATEMENT BY RAFAEL YUSTE, VICE-PRESIDENT OF FC BARCELONA

At FC Barcelona and the Barça Foundation we are firmly committed to the defence of human rights. I want to take advantage of this event to recall the thousands of people who have died or disappeared during their journey, crossing seas and deserts, anonymous people who we will never meet but who are mourned and missed by their families, as well as many others who have suffered serious abuse during their journey towards the dream of a better life.

STATEMENT BY DR. MARTA SEGÚ, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE FC BARCELONA FOUNDATION

At FC Barcelona and the Foundation we emanate the will to create safe, legal ways so that people fleeing poverty, climate change, wars and persecution can do so without risking their lives. We ask the Western countries and all the rich countries of the planet to be more humane, to treat these people with dignity and to protect people's lives.

And above all we ask for more generosity, given that rich countries only receive 25% of the people who flee. The remaining 75% stay in the countries around them, which are often also developing countries without the resources or capacity to care for them properly.

STATEMENT BY MAMADOU DIA, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR, WRITER AND ACTIVIST

At the Hahatay organisation that I created in Barcelona in 2013, and that now works in Gandiol (Senegal), we are very involved in human rights and the creation of opportunities for young people and women. Hahatay is the result of my journey there and back, a difficult path, full of injustices and life stories, but also a beautiful path and that has been full of learning.

In 2006 I lived in Cayuco, along with 83 young people who were unfairly denied visas by western countries in order to travel with dignity. Many of them have had to cross borders because of social or political injustices. When they arrive, they are held in Foreigners' Internment Centers (CIE) or abandoned to clandestine networks. Today, together with my voice, we join them in demanding justice, respect and humanity. We want this event to help human rights to be respected and fulfilled, for people to live with dignity in their countries and for them to be able to travel freely whenever they want. The world needs to be our home.