Corruption and Safe Sport at UNODC ASEAN Conference 2023

On 16 May 2023, the Safe Sport Commission delivered a presentation at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Conference - Safeguarding Sport from Corruption: Focus on ASEAN. Held in cooperation with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the event was hosted by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), supported by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

The UNODC Global Report on Corruption in Sport (2021): Section 7 Corruption and Abuse in Sport   highlights that corruption extends to abuse of functions in sport such as “abuse of position, office and authority… it exists because of silence, complacency and the continued abuse of power and position of trust.”

The report also recognized the “elevated levels of autonomy, lack of transparency, accountability and ethics” within sporting structures which can often lead to the normalisation of such abuse of position, including the abuse of power to obtain sexual benefits.

Underlying the importance of developing and implementing policies and legislative and regulatory frameworks that facilitate reporting, the Safe Sport Commission was invited to make a presentation to the conference delegates on the Singapore’s framework for safeguarding in sport and how it had come to develop and implement the Safe Sport Programme.

Section 7 of the UNODC Global Report on Corruption in Sport can be viewed at https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/safeguardingsport/grcs/section-7.html