April 17 – As the scourge of global match-fixing shows little sign of diminishing, fresh calls have been made for governments to introduce legislation that recognises it as a global crime.
A new partnership has just been announced between the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which will see the two organisations work together to strengthen cross-border investigations and prosecutions into manipulation of sports competitions.
The deal is viewed as an important step towards governments imposing criminal sanctions against those guilty of match-fixing.
“Match-fixing is a transnational issue that usually involves dozens of individuals across multiple jurisdictions. A country-by-country approach is simply not enough to combat this very real threat to sport,” said ICSS president Mohammed Hanzab. “Without this (government intervention), new match-fixing cases will continue to surface and sport will remain under threat.”
Yury Fedotov, UNODC Executive Director said law enforcement agencies and governments must not “shy away” from matchfixing and illegal betting. “They are transnational problems that affect every level of society,” he said.
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