The Council of Europe’s operational project of the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, CETS 215, Keep Crime Out of Sport Plus 2018-2020, organised a regional seminar focusing on the GUAM countries’ co-operation on 14-15 February in Kyïv (Ukraine), hosted at the GUAM Secretariat.

The seminar was opened with an official ceremony, by Mr. Mykola Movchan, Ukrainian Vice Minister for Youth and Sports and welcomed by hosts, Mr. Altai Efendiev Secretary general of GUAM and Mr. Marten Ehnberg, Head of the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine. Mr. Nazar Kholodnytskyi, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Head of Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, First Vice-President of the Football Federation of Ukraine; and Mr. Yevhenii Yenin, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine are also participated in the opening ceremony, among other dignitaries from the National Police of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, highlighting the importance of the topic and significance of operational activities in implementing the Convention.

The seminar was organized in collaboration with the Ukrainian Ministry for Youth and Sports, involved public and private stakeholders from ministries, law enforcement, the sport movement and betting stakeholders from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, within their regional GUAM cooperation. It developed a stronger understanding of the development of legislation compliant to the Macolin Convention, including implementation of the Convention’s co-operation and coordination structures, notably the national platforms. This was achieved through discussion on concrete cases and measures undertaken in the region. The participants engaged in lively discussions and workshops, from the perspective of the publication of the Concept on the manipulation of sports competitions, published by the Council of Europe in autumn 2018.

Amongst the four countries, Ukraine has already ratified the Convention and the remaining 3 countries have plans to ratify in 2019 (with Moldova having recently ratified in its national parliament), thus triggering the entry into force of the Convention.

The seminar was facilitated by interventions and exchanges with French and Belgian national platform members (Jean-François Reymond, from the Rugby players’ union, Provale, and Guy Goudesone, deputy head of the Belgian federal police anti-corruption unit and coordinator of the national platform), both countries of which have signed the Convention and are eagerly waiting for the green light from the EU to ratify. The third presence was from the Deputy Secretary General of the Global Lotteries Monitoring Systems, Vagelis Alexandrakis, who offered insight into how international organisations can support the work of national stakeholders as expressly encouraged by the Convention.

KCOOS+ is a project with a worldwide reach, providing technical assistance to countries and regions worldwide on the principles of the Macolin Convention CETS 215 and is entirely funded by voluntary contributions from countries and international organisations (Cyprus-Denmark-France-Norway-Switzerland-European Lotteries-World Lotteries Association). Its partners include GLMS-Ethisport-EU Athletes-Interpol-RC3 and Partners. It follows up on the first EU co-funded KCOOS project and is now global, with various activities around the world. It works in cooperation with other existing projects in the domain, targeting specific stakeholders, including PROTect Integrity by EU Athletes Association targeting athletes and Integrisport ERASAMUS+ by CSCF Foundation for Sport Integrity targeting law enforcement and the judiciary.

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