Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed to head IOC’s Ethics Commission

Former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been proposed as the new Chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission by the IOC Executive Board. This proposal will now be put for vote to the full membership at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru, in September. Under the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020, the Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission and all of its members are elected by the full IOC membership at the IOC Session.

If approved, Mr Ban will replace the current Chair of the Ethics Commission, Mr Youssoupha Ndiaye (former President of the Constitutional Court of Senegal), who is standing down at the end of this IOC Session.

Mr Ban was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, from January 2007 to December 2016. When he took office, he committed the UN to the highest standards of ethics, integrity, accountability and transparency. One of Mr Ban’s first actions was to introduce a code of ethics to the organisation, which applied to all employees. An Ethics Committee was established to devise “a unified set of standards and policies” for the entire UN system.

Mr Ban is a strong proponent of enhancing the role of sport to address global challenges. He oversaw the inclusion of “sport as an important enabler” in the Sustainable Development Goals, part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

At the IOC Session in Sochi in 2014, he said that “Olympic principles are United Nations principles.” He ran twice with the Olympic torch, at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, to demonstrate the unique power of sport as a global force for good.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “The IOC is honoured and pleased that Mr Ban accepted for his name to be put forward. On the one hand, Mr Ban has an exemplary record of public service with integrity, accountability and transparency. On the other hand, he is a great friend of the Olympic Movement.”

Mr Ban said: "I am deeply honoured to be nominated as the Chair of the IOC’s Ethics Commission and accept the position with a sense of humility and responsibility. The United Nations and the International Olympic Committee have had a close working relationship over many years with both organisations contributing to building a peaceful and better world. In working closely under the principles of the IOC movement, I will do my best to enhance the accountability and transparency of the IOC."

The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of USD 3.25 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.

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