Advocating at events

IPACS has been on the road quite a bit in the last few months to keep advocating its purpose, sharing its latest activities and bringing on board new members to advance further in the fight against corruption in sport. Here is a snapshot:

EU Sport Forum

Pâquerette Girard Zappelli, IOC Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, attended the annual EU Sport Forum, organised by the European Commission on 2 May in Stockholm. During an expert panel discussion on sports integrity, Girard Zappelli explained the IOC’s approach, while highlighting the importance of the IPACS initiative for fighting corruption in sport. In this context, she invited the EU governments to continue and strengthen their collective efforts through this pragmatic partnership. Click here to access the video of the full event.

UNODC workshops for ASEAN and South Asia

The IOC presented IPACS and its work on preventing corruption during the organisation of major sports events at a UNODC workshop on “Safeguarding Sport from Corruption”, organised for the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on 15 and 16 May in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Similarly, the IOC shared IPACS’ activities and expertise in the sessions on major sports events and good governance during the recent UNODC workshop on “Safeguarding Sport from Corruption: Focus on South Asia”, held on 20 and 21 June in Vienna at the UNODC headquarters.

Council of Europe – EPAS annual meeting

On 8 June, the IOC participated in an “integrated approach to integrity” round table discussion, organised by the Council of Europe (CoE) on the occasion of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) Governing Board and Consultative Committee joint plenary meeting. The IOC presented its views on sports integrity, the fight against corruption and how IPACS helps to streamline any related activities. In particular, IPACS aims to create a platform of information exchange between sport and law enforcement, and welcomes initiatives like MARS (international network of magistrates and prosecutors responsible for sports integrity), promoted by the CoE, in addition to the UNODC GlobE Network (see below). During his opening remarks, the CoE’s Deputy Secretary General, Bjørn Berge, mentioned IPACS and its added value. As an outcome of the meeting, a draft “Declaration on Sport Integrity” was prepared and put forward for consideration by the CoE Committee of Ministers. The draft text of the Declaration welcomes the work of IPACS and calls upon it “to pursue its transversal and multi-stakeholder approach and enhance the implementation of the highest applicable standards aimed at combating corruption and promote a culture of good governance in sport”.

Master of Arts in Sports Ethics and Integrity (MAiSI)

On 30 June, the IOC Ethics and Compliance Department presented its activities to the MAiSI programme which took place in Olympia. The session provided insights into the work of IPACS; an overview of the IOC’s approach in regard to integrity in sport, good governance and ethics; and a detailed presentation of activities in the area of prevention of competition manipulation.

Swiss Government workshop on the fight against corruption in sport

The IOC took part in a workshop organised by the Swiss Government on 5 July, with a focus on anti-corruption in sport and in particular the implementation of measure 34 of the Federal Council's Anti-Corruption Strategy 2021-2024, which urges “the international sports federations to join the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS)”. The meeting brought together representatives from the Swiss Federal Office of Sport (BASPO) and the Interdepartmental Working Group (IDWG) on Combatting Corruption, international sports associations and academic institutions from Switzerland and abroad to discuss the current challenges in the fight against corruption in sport.

UNODC GlobE meeting

IPACS, represented by the IOC, participated in a side event focusing on safeguarding sport from corruption and economic crime on 13 July in Vienna. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the plenary meeting of the UNODC Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities (GlobE Network), which was organised at the UNODC headquarters in Vienna from 11 to 13 July.

The side event on sport, which was attended by over 60 participants from governmental authorities and sports organisations, had the following objectives:

• informing participants about the initiative to start a consultation process on how the UNODC GlobE Network could be used as a model to tackle corruption and economic crime in sport;
• raising awareness of corruption and economic crime risks to sport;
• showcasing examples of how these threats have been tackled; and
• initiating a discussion among the members of the UNODC GlobE Network about corruption and economic crime in sport and how to effectively tackle it.

Coming up: UNODC workshop with World Rugby

IPACS will be further represented at an international meeting co-organised by the UNODC and World Rugby on 18 and 19 July in Vienna: the “safeguarding sport from corruption with a focus on rugby union workshop”. IPACS will promote its prevention tools and invite the rugby community to make best use of them, in support of their preventive procedures and framework to fight against corruption.

IPACS Annual General Conference and Steering Committee in September

As announced during the last IPACS Steering Committee meeting, the next Annual General Conference of IPACS will be held in a hybrid format on 12 September 2023 at the UNODC headquarters in Vienna. The Steering Committee will meet the previous day on 11 September.