The Pact for the Future, adopted by world leaders, addresses themes such as peace and security, human rights, gender, youth, and global governance. Action 11 emphasizes the protection and promotion of culture and sport as essential components of sustainable development and commits to integrating sport into development policies.
This resolution highlights the rising concern of human trafficking in the sports arena, which often involves transnational organized crime groups exploiting people in vulnerable situations, and recognizes the need to bridge the knowledge gap through data gathering for evidence-based responses.
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At its special session in June 2021, the General Assembly adopted the 'Political Declaration: Our Collective Commitment to Effectively Addressing Challenges, Implementing Measures for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption, and Reinforcing International Cooperation.' This declaration highlights the importance of Member States jointly addressing corruption in sports, signifying a significant global shift in safeguarding the integrity of sports from wrongdoing.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument. The Convention's far-reaching approach and the mandatory character of many of its provisions makes it a unique tool for developing a comprehensive response to a global problem.
The Convention covers five main areas: preventive measures, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange. The Convention covers many different forms of corruption, such as bribery, trading in influence, abuse of functions, and various acts of corruption in the private sector.
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In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in December 2019, as part of the Eighth Session of the Conference of States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, 186 Governments (now counting 187) agreed a new set of commitments aimed at tackling corruption in sport. This was done through the adoption of resolution 8/4 on Safeguarding Sport from Corruption. Resolution 8/4 can be found by following the link to the English version of the Conference Report, page 16-20.
A link to the English version can be found here: Link.
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In Vienna, Austria, in November 2017, as part of the Seventh Session of the Conference of States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, 186 Governments (now counting 187) agreed a set of commitments aimed at tackling corruption in sport. This was done through the adoption of resolution 7/8 on Corruption in Sport.
A link to the English version can be found here: Link.
Further to the above calls for effective action, corruption in sport were also addressed by the United Nations General Assembly in several resolutions, namely:
“Reaffirming the importance of Member States, including those that will host such Games and other sporting events in the future, as well as relevant sport-related organizations, federations and associations, as appropriate, enhancing measures to address the risks of corruption related to such events, and in this regard welcoming the conferences on safeguarding sport from corruption, held in Vienna in June 2018 and in September 2019, noting with appreciation the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in this regard, in particular the publication of the Global Report on Corruption in Sport, and noting the efforts of the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport established in 2017;”
Relevant paragraphs on safeguarding sport from corruption include the following:
Reaffirming the importance of Member States, including those that will host such Games and other sporting events in the future, as well as relevant sport-related organizations, federations and associations, as appropriate, enhancing measures to address the risks of corruption related to such events, and in this regard welcoming the conferences on safeguarding sport from corruption, held in Vienna in June 2018 and in September 2019, noting with appreciation the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in this regard, in particular the publication of the Global Report on Corruption in Sport, and noting the efforts of the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport established in 2017,
Taking note of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Corruption in Sport and its report entitled “Game Over: Exposing the Linkages between Corruption, Serious and Organized Crime in Sport”, noting with appreciation the efforts of Member States and the Office aimed at preventing, detecting, investigating and sanctioning corruption and organized crime in sport through awareness-raising, capacity-building and activities linked to enhancing cooperation between criminal justice authorities, sports organizations and relevant stakeholders, and recalling in this regard Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption resolution 8/4 on safeguarding sport from corruption,
20. Calls upon Member States to enhance their efforts to prevent and fight against corruption and organized crime in sport, including by supporting efforts aimed at enhancing cooperation between and among law enforcement authorities, relevant United Nations agencies and sports organizations, facilitating the exchange of expertise and the dissemination of information and raising awareness within sports organizations and the sports community, and through educational programmes, of the threat posed by corruption and organized crime in sport, and also calls upon Members States to make use of available tools by relevant agencies in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems;
21. Calls upon Member States and the sport sector to enhance their efforts to prevent and fight trafficking in persons, in particular of children and women, as well as forced labour, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, and all forms of violence in sports;
22. Encourages Member States, in particular those committed to promoting sport as a tool for development and peace, and other stakeholders, such as international sports federations, organizers of sport events, sports clubs and leagues, foundations and the private sector, especially businesses involved in the sports and development sector, to continue and intensify their support for the work of the United Nations system on sport for development and peace, including through voluntary contributions and the establishment of innovative partnerships to advance policy and programme development in the field of sport for development and peace;
Noting with appreciation the publication and launch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Corruption in Sport to support the effective implementation of resolutions 7/8 and 8/4 adopted by the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention,
Noting with appreciation also the efforts of States parties, international and intergovernmental organizations and sport-related organizations to effectively implement all resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly and the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption that include references to tackling corruption in sport, notably Assembly resolution 77/235 on preventing and combating corrupt practices and the transfer of proceeds of corruption, facilitating asset recovery and returning such assets to legitimate owners, in particular to countries of origin, in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and Conference resolutions 7/8 of 10 November 2017 on corruption in sport, 8/4 of 20 December 2019 on safeguarding sport from corruption and 10/3 of 15 December 2023 on the follow-up to the Marrakech declaration on the prevention of corruption.
Noting with appreciation the publication and launch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Corruption in Sport to support the effective implementation of resolutions 7/8 and 8/4 adopted by the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention,
Acknowledging the support provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, including under its Programme on Safeguarding Sport from Corruption and Economic Crime, and in particular, the promotion of its Global Report on Corruption in Sport, which is the only comprehensive publication covering all forms of corruption in sport, as well as its cooperation with the International Olympic Committee aimed at enhancing awareness, building capacities and enhancing cooperation aimed at tackling corruption in sport, including through the publication and launch of the report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the International Olympic Committee entitled “A practical guide to the prosecution of cases of competition manipulation”, the report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the International Olympic Committee entitled “Investigation of cases of competition manipulation: a practical guide”, and the report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime entitled “Safeguarding sport from corruption: focus on the FIFA World Cup 2026 and 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles”
43. Urges States parties to the Convention to effectively implement all resolutions and decisions of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention, including resolutions 7/8 on corruption in sport, 8/4 on safeguarding sport from corruption, and 10/3 on the follow-up to the Marrakech declaration on the prevention of corruption, as well as General Assembly resolution 77/235 on preventing and combating corrupt practices, facilitating asset recovery and returning such assets to legitimate owners, particularly to countries of origin, in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption, inter alia, through taking robust legislative and law enforcement measures, supporting technical assistance and promoting capacity-building initiatives, as appropriate, and promoting cooperation between law enforcement agencies and relevant sport-related organizations and stakeholders, as well as resolution 7/5 on promoting preventive measures against corruption, and also urges States parties to the Convention to enhance prevention, detection, investigation, cooperation and the exchange of information and good practices to tackle the different manifestations of corruption in sport, including by considering policy recommendations identified in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Corruption in Sport, where appropriate;
44. Encourages Member States to consider actively engaging in and contributing to the systematic collection of relevant information, such as trends, good practices, projects, programmes and initiatives to tackle the manifestation of sport specific corruption, including the manipulation of sport competitions, and illegal betting, and corruption related to the transfer of athletes, the administration of sport organizations and the organization of sport events, and relevant offences related to the ownership of sports clubs and institutions, and interlinkages between corruption and organized crime in sport, in order to develop evidence-based strategies and activities to tackle them;
