Extraordinary Meeting of the Bureau of International Anti-Doping Convention meets at UNESCO following MacLaren Report
© UNESCO/A.Trujillo Fernández - UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, and the Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vitaly Mutko, met at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 1 August 2016
On 1 August, 2016, the Bureau of the Conference of Parties to the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport met in Paris for an extraordinary meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Saleh Konbaz Mohamed (Saudi Arabia), in his capacity as Chair of the Conference of Parties of the International Convention against Doping in Sport, and in the presence, among others, of Mr. Hassan Wario Arero, Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and the Arts of Kenya, and Mr. Vitaly Mutko, Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation. The meeting was convened following the publication of the McLaren report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Both WADA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) forwarded the report to the Bureau of the Conference of Parties for its consideration.
The Parties to the meeting reaffirmed the role of the International Convention against Doping in Sport to tackle issues relating to lack of compliance of the goals of the Convention. The Parties agreed to a number of proposals to ensure consistency and transparency in the fight against doping and for the protection of the integrity of sports. These include: conducting a review of Russia’s national anti-doping policy under the practice of the Conference of Parties; the presentation of a compliance Label on monitoring national anti-doping policy for consideration by the next Conference of Parties that will take place at UNESCO in September 2017; and the possible setting up of an Ad Hoc Task Force, including the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency and UNESCO, concerned regional intergovernmental entities and stakeholders, to address pressing matters.
On this occasion, the Director-General met with the Russian Minister of sports, Mr Vitaly Mutko, and reaffirmed the principles enshrined in the International Convention against Doping in Sport -- notably the responsibility for public authorities to prevent and combat doping in sport, ensuring “the proper conduct, on the basis of the principle of fair play, of sports events and to protect the health of those that take part in them” as well as the need to encourage international cooperation to eliminate doping. She stressed the need to strengthen implementation of the Convention, adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2005, ratified today by over 180 countries and hosted by UNESCO.
The Director-General also met with Mr Saleh Konbaz Mohamed to review developments with the goal of bolstering implementation of the Convention across the world. She pointed to the Convention’s rising relevance at a time when sport has never been so important for advancing respect for human rights and dignity, deepening social inclusion, and building dialogue, underlining the longstanding mandate of UNESCO to promote the power of sport for more inclusive, just and healthier societies.
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