General Assembly Decisions Give Direction for IPC's Future

The Eighth General Assembly, the governing body of IPC, met in Salt Lake City last November in order to guide the general direction of IPC for the next two years.

More than 200 delegates from 46 National Paralympic Committees, five International Organizations of Sport for Disabled (IOSDs) and 19 sports ruled on motions regarding membership, the IPC constitutions, by-laws and issues like finance and marketing.

Since the last General Assembly meeting in 1997, IPC has established its worldwide headquarters in Bonn, Germany. The organization is constantly gaining recognition and the next Paralympic Games in Sydney will be the biggest in history. These developments led to discussions within the IPC leadership on the necessity of restructuring the organization, namely the Executive Committee and the Management Committee. Instead of voting on specific motions on changes in the structure, the General Assembly agreed on a proposal by the Executive Committee to have a strategic planning seminar in the spring of 2001, where the policies, programs and responsibilities for the future of international sport for athletes with a disability will be thoroughly studied by all IPC members. The seminar will be in line with the tradition of the Arnhem Seminar, which in 1987 led to the founding of IPC. Headquarters is currently calling for bids to host this seminar (see article on page 3).

The structure of IPC was a topic under discussion again, when a motion was presented by Sweden to change the structure of the Executive Committee. Sweden proposed to delete the IOSD and Regional Representatives from the committee and to include three members at large instead. However, the delegates did not follow this suggestion and instead voted to retain the status quo until the Strategic Planning Seminar would give directions on how to restructure the organization in 2001.

A change within the IPC leadership is now certain to take place in 2001, after the General Assembly defeated a motion to remove the article which limits the number of terms of office for the IPC officers from the constitution. The International Blind Sport Association (IBSA) had submitted this motion, because it was felt that there is a need for continuity in leadership especially in times of transition as the organization is experiencing at the moment. The article says that the mandate period of Executive Committee members is limited to three terms, which means that officers can not stand for election after being in office for twelve years. This ruling will apply to IPC President Dr. Robert Steadward, Treausurer Andé Auberger and Medical Officer Michael Riding. However, it was made clear throughout the debate that this discussion was not about individuals, but solely about democratic principles.

In regard to marketing, the delegates agreed that a new marketing strategy for the IPC urgently needs to be implemented. Therefore, a "Marketing Task Force" was established, consisting of voluntary IPC members who have expertise and experience in marketing to produce a set of strategic recommendations specifically in regard to the image of IPC, its marketing deliverables including media/TV exposure, strategic marketing options and a future marketing and advertising policy for IPC and its member constituencies. A first report will be presented to the IPC Executive Committee in May. The Task Force will directly report to IPC President Steadward, who concluded: "Although our hopes regarding marketing have been disappointingly unfulfilled over the past two years, IPC will persevere with greater and greater determination towards a successful goal, as corporate funding is essential in the realization of our dreams for the future."

Members of the IPC Marketing Task Force:

• Philip Craven (Chairperson Wheelchair Basketball)
• Andy Scott (NPC South Africa)
• Tony Sainsbury (NPC United Kingdom)
• Serge Valentin (National Olympic Committee of France)
• John DaCruz (SPOC)
• Coordinated by Thomas Reinecke (IPC Chief Operating Officer)

A Code of Ethics for the International Paralympic Committee will be created by an IPC commission of Ethics with input from all IPC members. Vice President Policy and Planning, Dr. York Chow, presented a first draft of the Code to the delegates and explained, that it would focus on common values such as honesty, human rights, non-discrimination, fairness and justice. The General Assembly made it clear that the Code of Ethics would also need enforcement and, thus, must include regulations on sanctions for the case someone does not follow the Code of Ethics. The creation of a Commission on Ethics is on the agenda of the next Management and Executive Committee meetings.

Due to the positive development of sport for athletes with a disability throughout the world, many national organizations have applied for membership in IPC. The applications of ten nations were ratified, so that Azerbaijan, Cabo Verde, Barbados, Namibia, Samoa, Sao Tome & Principe, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Vanuatu and Vietnam now have officially recognized National Paralympic Committees. Moreover, it was decided that subject to receipt of all legal documents, from December 1 1999 onwards, the new Hellenic Paralympic Committee, which is recognized and endorsed by the Greek Government, will be the rightful Greek representative in IPC. For months, there had been confusion about the Greek membership in IPC. "In order to be able to move forward with the preparations for the 2004 Paralympic Summer Games in the Greek capitol Athens, it is very important that this problem has been solved", said François Terranova, IPC Vice President Games Liaison.

A motion put forward by the IPC European Committee addressed the situation that at some championships 60 per cent of the entries have not been submitted through the National Paralympic Committees, thus causing problems for the organizers. The motion, which reminds the nations of their responsibility to act as a coordinating body for all disability groups in regard to sport for the disabled in their countries was carried.