UN-backed gathering examining future of the fight against drugs in sport gets under way

A United Nations-backed conference tasked with identifying ways to eliminate drug cheats from sport kicked off in Paris today, focusing on the use of a $2.2 million donation to help national or international anti-doping projects.

The three-day gathering of around 250 government representatives at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Headquarters will discuss the future of the fight against doping in sport with respect to an international anti-doping treaty.

The 2005 International Convention against Doping in Sport, which promotes no advance notice, out-of-competition and in-competition testing, was adopted unanimously by UNESCO’s General Conference in October 2005.

Ratified by 127 countries to date, it is the first worldwide binding legal instrument that imposes uniform rules, tests and sanctions against using performance-enhancing substances and methods.

The Conference of States Parties to the Convention will examine the administration of the $2.2 million UNESCO-created Fund for the Elimination of Doping in Sport, which since 2008 has helped seven projects in Africa (Mali, Mozambique and Seychelles), the Americas (Barbados, Jamaica and Uruguay) and Europe (Albania).

In addition, it is also slated to adopt a list of substances and methods banned in sport by 1 January 2010. It will also as examine the electronic system set up by UNESCO to monitor the implementation of the Convention.

A report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) about the implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code will also be presented at the conference. The Code stipulates that any government which shall omit to ratify the Convention by 1 January 2010, or which shall subsequently not comply with it, shall no longer be admissible as a candidate for organizing sports events.