Governments
commit to promoting sport as a vital tool for sustainable development,
and taking strong action to protect sports integrity
Governments
from 32 Commonwealth countries today took the historic step of
committing to align their national sports policies to the Sustainable
Development Goals, in order to gear investments in sport towards
positive outcomes in health, education, gender equality and justice.
At
the Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting in Rio de Janeiro on 4 August
– on the eve of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games – the governments also
endorsed a set of far-reaching Commonwealth policy proposals to protect
against threats such as doping, match fixing and other forms of
corruption, while introducing safeguards to protect children, promote
equality and end discrimination.
Commonwealth
Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, opening the meeting, challenged
Ministers to take bold steps to strengthen and scale national sports
policy focused on advancing sustainable development, as she announced
plans to launch a new initiative -
Commonwealth Sport Integrity Champions - for
high-achieving athletes and eminent individuals to mobilise action to
ensure the long-term legitimacy and positive impact of sport.
“Commonwealth
governments have made clear their determination to ensure that sport
offers benefits not only for elite athletes but for the whole
population, including disadvantaged communities and marginalised groups,
such as people with disabilities. Sport is a part of our identity, a
shared tradition and a common language. It can also improve the life
chances of anyone who takes part: girls and boys, young and old, and
people of all faiths and backgrounds, regardless of ability,” she said.
The
Secretary-General added: “If countries do not deliver proper safeguards
to protect the integrity of sport, the gains we hope to achieve by
using sport as a tool for sustainable development will fail to
materialise. That’s why it is so encouraging that Commonwealth
governments are leading the way, globally, in their commitment to uphold
the integrity of sport and their adoption of this Commonwealth
consensus for action.”
In their joint communique,
the Sports Ministers “committed to develop, resource and champion
policies and strategies to maximise the contribution of sport" to the
new global development agenda. The Ministers endorsed policies
recommended by the Commonwealth Secretariat on the role that sport can
play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which were agreed
at the United Nations last year.
The
Ministers expressed strong concern about the seriousness of threats to
the integrity of sport and agreedthat sporting organisations and
governments have a shared responsibility to act. They stressed that the
full contribution of sport to sustainable development cannot be realised
if threats to the integrity of sport undermine its legitimacy.
Australia’s
Minister for Sport, Sussan Ley, who chaired the meeting, said: "The
Commonwealth Sport Ministers Meeting is about the Commonwealth family
coming together in the interests of peace, prosperity and diplomacy
through sport. It provides an opportunity for us all to advance
Commonwealth consensus and cooperation in key sports policy issues
including strengthening the integrity of sport and achieving health
outcomes. More broadly, the meeting serves to advance global efforts to
improve sustainable development."
The
policy proposals on integrity in sport endorsed by Ministers were
presented by the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport, a group of
independent experts, and relate to governance, safeguarding,
manipulation of sports competition, equality and anti-doping.
An initiative announced by the Commonwealth Secretary-General,
Commonwealth Sport Integrity Champions, will
see role models in the worlds of sport and national leadership selected
to raise public awareness and understanding of the importance of
safeguarding integrity, and help to mobilise programmes to ensure that
sport makes a positive contribution to local communities.
The
recommendations were welcomed by attendees, which, in addition to
governments, included representatives from organisations including the
Commonwealth Games Federation, World Health Organization, UNESCO,
Transparency International, the International Olympics Committee and the
International Paralympics Committee, and the World Anti-Doping Agency.