Doping and Human Rights in Pariah States
Alternative title CAS 2016/A/4708, Belarus Canoe Association and Belarusian Senior Men¡¯s Canoe and Kayak Team Members v International Canoe Federation
Book Chapter
Alternative title CAS 2016/A/4708, Belarus Canoe Association and Belarusian Senior Men¡¯s Canoe and Kayak Team Members v International Canoe Federation
Citation
McArdle D (2019) Doping and Human Rights in Pariah States [CAS 2016/A/4708, Belarus Canoe Association and Belarusian Senior Men¡¯s Canoe and Kayak Team Members v International Canoe Federation]. In: Duval A & Rigozzi A (eds.) Yearbook of International Sports Arbitration 2017. YISA. The Hague: TMC Assert Press, pp. 29-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/15757_2019_28
Abstract
On first reading, case 2016/A/4708 Belarus Canoe Association and Belarusian Senior Men¡¯s Canoe and Kayak Team Members v International Canoe Federation, award of 23 January 2017 (hereafter BCA v ICF) raises three familiar, deceptively simple, themes in anti-doping. Namely, the potential role of national criminal authorities in doping investigations; the relationship between those authorities and international sporting stakeholders; and the importance of those stakeholders adhering to their own rules when pursuing anti-doping allegations.
This paper addresses those aspects in detail, but the case has a significance that goes beyond anti-doping. Specifically, BCA v ICF raises wider issues about anti-doping actors whose obligations under the WADA regime cannot be easily reconciled with their reliance on governments that use sports as a tool for cronyism and furthering political agendas. Such is the case in Belarus, where the relationship between a supposedly independent national anti-doping authority and an ignoble and unhappy regime appears uncomfortably close. These concerns are compounded by sports federations who are only too happy to let Europe¡¯s last dictatorship host their international events.
Keywords
Doping; Tribunals; Independence; Belarus; Human rights
Status | Published |
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Title of series | YISA |
Publication date | 31/12/2019 |
Publication date online | 22/08/2019 |
URL | |
Publisher | TMC Assert Press |
Place of publication | The Hague |
ISBN | 978-94-6265-318-4 |
eISBN | 978-94-6265-319-1 |
Senior Lecturer, Law