BWF HELPING MEMBERS TO BUILD INTEGRITY CAPACITY

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is working with its membership to strengthen national integrity programmes.

At a two-day workshop in Kuala Lumpur (14-15 October), the world-governing body brought together Secretaries General and Council members from the badminton associations of India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to share information and knowledge on four key pillars related to integrity: Rules System; Education and Awareness; Monitoring & Investigations; and Judicial Processes.

This BWF pilot project examined the current national structures around safeguarding the integrity of badminton and how to build capacity in that area and fortify the sport against corruption. The four BWF member associations shared common issues and considered the next steps in their respective integrity programmes.

Among the topics addressed by the BWF Integrity Unit were: Roles and Responsibilities for Integrity; BWF Ethics Regulations; National Badminton Rules Framework; External Rules Systems and Compliance; Values-Based Education; Sports Betting Industry; Betting Monitoring Companies; Information Gathering (Intelligence and Investigations); and Judicial Bodies.

The sessions included a joint presentation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), whose Recognise | Reject | Report theme addressed the importance of athletes recognising approaches, knowing what to do and how to reject these and ensuring they reported these approaches to corrupt badminton. This session looked at the roles and responsibilities of IOC and INTERPOL as well as links between crime and sport; approaches to athletes; and key steps for national badminton federations in the fight against corruption.

"This is an important and positive step in engaging our members on key subjects related to the integrity of badminton. We are in good shape at an international level so now we want to focus on national programmes and strengthen our members’ capacity to handle this complex matter," said BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer.

"We will evaluate how these two days have gone and get feedback from all involved as we move forward in developing comprehensive guidelines for national integrity programmes and rolling this out to a broader membership of national badminton associations."

Thanking the IOC and INTERPOL for their valuable contribution, Høyer disclosed that participants from the four BWF member association will also be attending an IOC/INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in Malaysia, following the BWF meeting. That one-day gathering is part of ongoing efforts to help countries address the new criminal challenge posed by competition manipulation and other threats to the integrity of sport. These Integrity in Sport Multi-stakeholder Workshops are organised around the world to foster collaboration between law enforcement, the National Olympic Committee and national sports federations, public authorities (including Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education and Sports etc), the betting industry and other actors involved in preventing the infiltration of crime into sport, particularly as related to competition manipulation.

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