Bangkok, Thailand, December 5, 2024: The Olympic Council of Asia’s first OCA Safeguarding Workshop came to a successful conclusion at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon.
The one-day workshop, which was held in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee and included presenters from FIFA and Safe Sport International, attracted delegates from 43 of the 45 National Olympic Committees in Asia.
The OCA’s Gender Equity and Safeguarding Manager, Mrs. Sabine Fakhoury, thanked all the participants for their valuable contributions and described the workshop as another step forward on the journey to creating a safe sports environment for athletes and everyone involved in sport.
Mrs. Fakhoury also presented a list of recommendations and takeaways to emerge from the one-day seminar, including the need for NOCs to appoint a Specific Point of Contact (SPOC), to appoint a Safeguarding Officer for the Harbin Asian Winter Games in China next February, to make use of all the educational toolkits available and to create awareness on the importance of safeguarding.
She also encouraged the delegates from the 43 NOCs to make use of the network of contacts created during the workshop and to work together for a safer future.
The OCA, led by Deputy Director General Mr. Vinod Kumar Tiwari, then presented a trophy of appreciation to NOC Thailand for hosting the event and also to the three international presenters. The trophy was the symbol of the OCA’s “Guarding the Asian Games” initiative.
After the opening ceremony and panel discussion, two international guests made presentations to complete the morning session.
Mrs. Gloria Viseras, who represented Spain in gymnastics at the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games, spoke on “Developing Safeguarding Policies and Procedures” in her role as senior project manager at the IOC Safe Sport Unit.
This was followed by “The Intangible Dimension of Safeguarding” conducted by Mrs. Marie-Laure Lemineur, FIFA Head of Safeguarding and Child Protection.
In the afternoon, Mrs. Syahirah Latiff, Training and Education Manager, Safe Sport Commission Singapore, spoke on “Spreading awareness through community engagement and education”, followed by Maldives Olympic Committee Secretary General Thamooh Ahmed Saeed on “Stakeholder engagement in safeguarding athletes”.
The third international guest, Dutch Olympic decathlete Chiel Warners, Vice Chair of Safe Sport International, spoke on the subject of “Everyone, everywhere safe in sport: from theory to practice”. The UK-based Safe Sport International is the leading organisation in the world on safeguarding.
The final session of the workshop was led by Mrs. Viseras from the IOC Safe Sport Unit and involved case studies under the subject of “Making an initial assessment of a safeguarding issue”.
The participants were divided into five groups and were presented with a short case study. From the information provided, the five groups discussed their own specific case and provided answers to a questionnaire. When this exercise was completed, each group nominated one member to go on stage and present the decisions they made, under the guidance of the IOC expert.
