Bangkok, Thailand, December 5, 2024: The Olympic Council of Asia is urging all competing National Olympic Committees at the Harbin Asian Winter Games next February to appoint a dedicated Safeguarding Officer.
Addressing delegates from 43 NOCs at the OCA Safeguarding Workshop at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bangkok on Thursday morning, the OCA’s Gender Equity and Safeguarding Manager, Mrs. Sabine Fakhoury, said 34 NOCs had registered to take part in the 9th AWG from February 7-14, 2025.
At this time, 14 of the 34 competing NOCs have appointed a Safeguarding Officer for the AWG, and eight of them are present at this workshop.
“I urge all the NOCs to appoint a Safeguarding Officer for Harbin before December 20,” Sabine said.
Mrs. Fakhoury also outlined the roles and responsibilities of the NOC Safeguarding Officer, including educating their delegations, the reporting mechanisms and also the disciplinary procedures in place.
This is the first time the OCA has asked for every NOC to have a designated Safeguarding Officer among the delegation at an OCA Games, and it is a policy that will be in place for every Asian Games, Asian Winter Games, Asian Youth Games, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and Asian Beach Games.
The OCA will also have a safeguarding kiosk in the Athletes’ Village in Harbin for anyone to learn more about the issue, as well as a safeguarding hotline to report cases anonymously.
Mrs Fakhoury also informed the delegates that 28 out of the OCA’s 45 NOCs had responded to an OCA request to appoint a Specific Point of Contact (SPOC) within their NOC to promote the topic of safeguarding and to establish a procedure which followed international guidelines.
