By Paul Nicholson
September 24 – The war on match-fixing and match-fixers requires a greater and more joined-up global co-operation and co-ordination, was the core message coming out of the UNESCO-ICSS MINEPS V meeting that concluded in Qatar last week.
60 international experts had gathered in Doha as a follow-up to the Declaration of Berlin that was signed by 121 countries at the 5th UNESCO World Sport Ministers Conference (MINEPS V) in May 2013 and which sought to bring more international co-operation in the battle against match manipulation.
Key areas discussed in Doha included national legislation to combat match-fixing; dialogue and cooperation; information and data exchange; funding and resourcing models; and prevention models against match-fixing.
Further consultation at a regional level, including a crucial Asia-Pacific Working Group, will now be undertaken which will result in concrete recommendations being put forward to MINEPS VI.
Stuart Page, Director of International Co-operation & Anti-Corruption Policy at the ICSS, said that tackling match-fixing has to be a multi-level approach, not least because sport is dealing with interlinking crimes that include bribery, money laundering and cyber crime. And the crimes themselves generally cross more than one national jurisdiction – sometimes as many as 40 – and hence will be treated differently between countries.
This makes finding a one-size-fits-all solution problematic. “We are looking at different models and ideas. We need to find a model that is sustainable and can be used across a large number of jurisdictions. Police worldwide do not have the time or resource to tackle the full depth of the problem so we need to look at way of addressing this. Whether it is via some form of tax or another scheme,” said Page.
He makes the point that the issue is not confined to individual instances but is an issue of global organised crime. “We are building a clearing house of knowledge and ideas,” he said. “Governments will play a role and it will no longer just be left to clubs and leagues to deal with.”
Mr. G. Kannan, Senior Deputy Public Prosecutor, Attorney General’s Chamber, Singapore, echoed Page, saying: “Match-fixing is a problem that no one country can tackle by itself. It is a problem that urgently requires best practices of countries to be shared so common priorities can be set to combat match-fixing.
“We have to work together on an international level to combat this problem. This is an excellent forum in starting that process.”
In his closing remarks at the Doha forum, ICSS President Mohammed Hanzab said: “Whilst today was a significant step forward in the fight to protect sport, we must continue to work together to develop a global approach to combatting match-fixing and organised crime in sport…
“On behalf of the ICSS, I would like to thank UNESCO and look forward to continuing our work with them, as we work towards developing a coordinated international platform to fight match-fixing and protect sport from the very real threat of organised crime.”
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