Securing Sport 2020 Successfully Concludes with Resounding Support of Global Leaders in Safeguarding Sport

The virtually held event under the theme ‘Building Resilience in an Ever-Changing World’ saw leaders from international organisations, government, international and continental sport bodies, academia, and business come together to analyse both the current and future challenges facing the world of sport while addressing international approaches and ways to further strengthen multisectoral cooperation to enhance the safeguard of sport.

Among the main topics discussed during ‘Securing Sport’, were the future of sport in the context of COVID-19, the security legacy of major sporting events, the plague of corruption, the use of big data to counter the infiltration of organized crime into sports, the rise of eSports and technology, child protection, the issue of racism, the role of sport in regions in turmoil and the need to develop an international framework to regulate the use of private security in the context of major sporting events.

The event kicked off by Master of Ceremonies, Reena Ninan, Journalist and Founder of Good Trouble Productions and the high-level speaker lineup included, among others;

Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General, United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office (UNOCT) Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Staffan De Mistura, Former Under-Secretary-General and United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon Raffaele Chiulli, President of Sport Accord and of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) Graham Stoker, Deputy President for Sport, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Marcos Diaz, Chairperson of the Bureau of the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the Anti-Doping Convention - UNESCO Azat Kadyrov, First Deputy Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Franco Frattini, President of the High Court of Sport Justice of Italy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) Thomas Stelzer Dean, International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA), ICSS Honorary Board Member Cláudia Pereira, Secretary of State for Integration and Migration, Portugal Antonia Marie De Meo, Director of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) Constantinos Filis, Director-General, International Olympic Truce Centre (IOTC) Juliette Kayyem Belfer, Senior Lecturer International Security at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Faculty Chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects Filomena Fortes, President of the Cape Verdean Olympic Committee, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member Dominique Day Chair of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent Michael Owen Johnson Former footballer, England U21s coach Abdulmounaim Bah General Secretary, Confederation of African Football (CAF) Dora Bakoyannis, Member of the Parliament for New Democracy, Hellenic Parliament – Council of Europe, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Douglas E. Lute, former US Permanent Representative to NATO, ICSS Board Member Joyce Cook, CBE, OBE FIFA Chief of Social Responsibility and Education Officer Marcia L. Dyson Founder, Women’s Global Institute, Member of the Save the Dream High-Level Council Michael Hershman Co-Founder, Transparency International, ICSS Board Member While day one focused on governance and policy reforms, day two and three brought experts from a range of institutions such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), INTERPOL, UNESCO, UNITAR, the Italian Antimafia, and Anti-Terrorism Directorate, the US Department of States’ Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), FIFA, Geneva Center of Security Policy (GCSP), Confederation of African Football (CAF), Hamad Bin Khalifa University, eSport Integrity Commission and business sector stakeholders including ADIDAS, Visa, Inc., and Telemundo to discuss and design different roadmaps to translate the discussions held during the conference into actions in the course of 2021.

Securing Sport 2020 saw its conclusion on day 4 focusing on the youth matters in sport. Day 4 of the programme provided a platform for young people to share their insights on sport and discuss the main topics addressed by ‘Securing Sport’ from the youth leaders’ perspective.

Mohammed Hanzab, Chairman, ICSS said;

"I was very proud and delighted that most of our allies were able to join us in this event. I can just thank them for their support towards our mission and for standing with us in this journey in safeguarding sport. I don’t know if we will ever bring the state of sport that is completely free of violence, corruption, or discrimination but, I know that we will never give up and will continue to ensure that there are no safe havens for those who try to transform and jeopardise its safety, security, and integrity."

Massimiliano Montanari, CEO, ICSS said;

"The success of a conference is defined by its follow-up and by actions undertaken thanks to the ideas generated by the event. This also applies to ‘Securing Sport’ and our capacity to realize the views and recommendations we have received from our allies, including policy-makers, experts, and youth leaders, and our ability to effectively engage them into collective action. This is what we aim to report at ‘Securing Sport 2021."

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only