The impact of Russian military aggression on Ukraine's sports sector and countering manipulation of sports competitions are the main topics of the Copenhagen Group meeting
From 17 to 20 October 2022, Strasbourg is hosting events to implement the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (The Macolin Convention), called the Macolin Week.
The meetings of the Network of National Platforms against the Manipulation of Sport Competitions (Copenhagen Group) and the Council of Europe Follow-up Committee of the Macolin Convention (T-MC), the International Conference on the Manipulation of Sport Competitions in the Digital Age are dedicated to monitoring the implementation of the Macolin Convention, adopting relevant recommendations within the framework of its implementation, developing international cooperation in combating manipulation in sport, implementing international cooperation projects and launching new partnerships.
On behalf of the Minister of Youth and Sports Vadym Gutzeit, Nataliia Radchuk, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the T-MC, member of the T-MC Bureau, Head of Department of International Cooperation and European Integration of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, took part in the events of the Macolin Week.
At the beginning of her speech during the Copenhagen Group meeting, which was attended by representatives from 35 countries, Nataliia Radchuk thanked to state authorities and national sports federations of European countries for their support and assistance to Ukrainian athletes, and informed about the losses of Ukrainian sports community and destructions of sports infrastructure as a result of Russia's full-scale military aggression against Ukraine.
The representative of the Ministry of Youth and Sports called on participating states to mobilise the efforts of the international sports movement to completely exclude representatives of Russia and Belarus from international sports organisations and to continue sanctions pressure to ban citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus from participating in international sports in any status, including neutral.
In addition, Nataliia Radchuk informed about the progress of the Ukrainian side in combating the manipulation of sports competitions, in particular, the establishment in September 2022 of the Interagency Working Group "National Platform of Sports Integrity", the provisions and composition of which were approved by the Order of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
Nataliia Radchuk informed about the online portal https://fairsport.gov.ua/ developed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in cooperation with partners from the non-governmental sector, which allows representatives of the sports community and other citizens to report possible manipulation of sports competitions.
Nataliia Radchuk also stressed that the Ministry has stepped up its efforts to raise awareness of athletes and other representatives of sports movement about combating manipulation and corruption in sport. In particular, in September of this year, the Ministry of Youth and Sports hosted the first webinar of the National Patform of Sports Integrity, where representatives of sports federations were presented with its website and provided with basic recommendations on how to organise work to prevent and combat manipulation of sports competitions.
For information
The Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (The Macolin Convention) was ratified by Ukraine on 16 November 2016 (Law of Ukraine ‘On Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions’ No. 1752-VIII dated 16.11.2016).
In order to implement the Macolin Convention the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, in cooperation with non-governmental partners, has developed an online portal of the National Platform, which allows representatives of the sports community and other citizens to report violations related to sports competitions.