WADA’s Executive Committee and Foundation Board meetings were held last weekend in Montreal (CAN) with the presence of FIS President Gian Franco Kasper. One of the highlights on the meeting agenda included the approval of a Memorandum of Understanding for formalizing cooperation with Interpol, the world’s largest police organization. This Memorandum of Understanding provides a framework for cooperation between the two organizations in tackling doping, in particular in the areas of evidence gathering and information sharing. Moreover, WADA is finalizing protocols to facilitate evidence gathering and information sharing between its two groups of stakeholders (governments and sport).
The weekend’s meetings also focused on advances made by WADA in the development of the Athlete Passport concept. The fundamental principle of the Athlete Passport is based on the monitoring of an athlete’s biological parameters to detect abnormal variations that indirectly reveal the effects of doping. WADA is now developing an “Athlete Passport Operating Manual†to provide practical advice on the implementation of such a program, expected to be completed in early 2009.
UNESCO and WADA also recently celebrated the hundredth ratification of the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport at a ceremony held at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris on 12th November. Switzerland, Uganda and Burkina Faso were the latest three countries to ratify the Convention, bringing the total number of ratifications to 103. 90 Member States of UNESCO have still to ratify the convention.
Editor's Note: The United States has ratified the convention. President Bush signed the document following approval by Congress in July of this year. Canada was the second country to ratify the convention, doing so in November of 2005, just over a month over following the unanimous adoption of the Convention at the 33rd UNESCO General Conference, after playing a significant role in the development of the Convention.
Source: FIS
