6 December 2018 - Sport can support the well-being of individuals and the sustainable and peaceful development of societies. Illegal activities to exploit sport for illicit gain, however, such as match-fixing, competition-manipulation and illegal betting, have increased in past years and can jeopardize its benefits.
Governments and sports organizations are responding by stepping-up counter-measures against such criminal activity. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with its strong mandate and extensive expertise in fighting crime and strengthening criminal justice, is at the forefront of promoting the integrity of sport.
As part of this effort to fight sport-related crime, UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Asian Football Confederation, the governing body of Asian football and one of the six Confederations making up FIFA, in Kuala Lumpur.
"UNODC seeks to help protect integrity in sport by promoting good governance in sport and mitigating the risk of corruption that it faces. Working in partnership with sports organizations such as the Asian Football Confederation is essential to achieving this aim," Mr. Fedotov said at the signing ceremony.
The agreement will strengthen UNODC's cooperation in Asia on fighting match-fixing, supporting good governance in sports organizations, promoting integrity of sports events and facilitate investigation and prosecution of cases involving corruption and organized crime in sport. The Secretary-General of the AFC, Dato' Windsor John, signed the MoU on behalf of the AFC.
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Resolution 7/8 on Corruption in Sport
The need to comprehensively address corruption and criminality in sport at the international level was recently recognized with resolution 7/8 on Corruption in Sport, by the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption at its seventh session, held in Vienna from 6 to 10 November 2017.
The resolution represents a significant milestone in addressing corruption in sport, not least the fact that it was supported by the 183 States parties to the UNCAC. It covers a wide range of issues, including that of illegal betting, whistleblowing, good governance, competition manipulation.
Resolution 7/8 on Corruption in Sport
United Nations Convention against Corruption
The International Partnership against Corruption
