Hon Minister of Home Affairs attends the UNESCO 10th Conference of Parties on the International Convention on Anti-Doping in Sport
Honourable Minister Isikeli Tuwai Vave Jnr is attending the UNESCO 10th Conference of Parties (COP) on the International Convention on Anti-Doping in Sport.
In his capacity as the current Chair of the Pacific Sports Ministers, the Hon Minister made an intervention at the beginning of the COP emphasising the need to consider an equitable approach to the issue of compliance with the Convention for small island development states (SIDS) from the Pacific in particular.
This theme was reinforced in a proposed amendment to the resolution on monitoring the implementation of the Convention in partnership with Angola.
This emphasised the need for the compliance assessment to be proportionate to each country’s GDP, population and national capacity enabling them to comply with the Convention’s provisions, while recognising differing national capacities and resource realities, and promoting international cooperation and support accordingly.
This proposal received significant support from other SIDS and was approved.
Through the compliance process, the need for equity is clear. Solomon Islands and several other Pacific Island States have a national university and often a campus of the University of the South Pacific. With limited funding and capacity, research into anti-doping, which is a compliance requirement, is not always possible when compared to the research capacity of India with 1,338 universities.
On the issue of the sports integrity guidelines, given the advent of artificial intelligence and innovations in the area of gene modification, the proposal of the Solomon Islands to continue to update the Guidelines to ensure they remain current and focus on integrity issues in sport was approved.
This includes a focus on good governance as the basis on which integrity issues including safeguarding, match fixing, illegal betting and anti-doping can be addressed.
Ends//
-Ministry of Home Affairs Press Release