The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) has contributed through a series of eight articles to a special issue of the Think tank Sport and Citizenship’s magazine on the subject of sport integrity, published on 12 June 2024.

In this 57^th edition of the magazine, contributors discuss the various threats and challenges faced by the sports world in preserving its integrity. The contributions are organised into four main themes: personal integrity, competition integrity, organisational integrity and the holistic approach to sport integrity.

Regarding the last theme, particular attention is drawn to the article by Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. He highlights the main texts adopted by the organisation, such as the European Sports Charter (revised in 2021) and the Committee of Ministers' declaration on sport integrity. The holistic approach is also promoted in the words of Andrea Carletti, Vice-Chair of the EPAS Governing Board, who looks back on the role of and work carried out by EPAS to further protect the integrity of sport.

On the subject of personal integrity, three contributions should be mentioned. The first, written by Elena Casero, Programme Manager of the "Start to Talk" project, focuses on the importance of developing the role of Child Safeguarding Officer (CSO) in sport, and the need to establish more international standards in this area. In the second, Gabriela Matei, Senior Project Officer of the EU-CoE joint project "Combating hate speech in sport", offers a panoramic view of the challenges faced by the world of sport in combating hate-based discrimination. Finally, professional tennis player Mariam Bolkvadze discusses her experience of online harassment, calling in particular for consideration of the impact of sports betting on the expression of hatred towards athletes, and the need to provide support to them.

Two contributions provide an overview of instruments set up to maintain the integrity of sports competitions. Firstly, Sophie Kwasny, Executive Secretary of EPAS, highlights the need for protection and prevention instruments and mechanisms such as the Macolin Convention on the manipulation of competitions and the Anti-Doping Convention, implemented by the Council of Europe. Secondly, Jean-Yves Lourgouilloux, Deputy Public Prosecutor in Marseille (France), in his capacity as Chair of the Network of Magistrates/Prosecutors Responsible for Sports (MARS Network), outlines the network’s role and objectives and in particular the desire to improve the judicial response to attacks on the integrity of sport, whether they concern illegal offers of bets, the manipulation of competitions or hate speech in sport.

The last of the eight contributions deals with integrity issues within sports organisations. In her capacity as co-ordinator of the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS), Konstantina Orologopoulou presents the partnership’s goals, such as the development of tools to help stakeholders reduce the risks of corruption in identified areas, with the main aim of promoting and implementing good governance in sports organisations.
 

  Click here to read the contributions in their entirety.