According to Petteri Lindblom, General Counsel of the Finnish Sports Ethics Center, when it comes to defining the time limit for a week, hardly any suspicions of ethical violations have been considered. However, cases of harassment could be dealt with despite the deadline.
8.6. 20: 04 • Updated 8.6. 20:07
In recent days, it has become clear that the Joint Disciplinary Committee for Martial Arts has failed to investigate a number of harassment cases. The reason given by the Disciplinary Committee is that, according to the rules, a report made by an individual must be submitted within a week of the violation or after it has become apparent.
General Counsel of the Finnish Sports Ethics Center (Suek) Petteri Lindblom believes that the time limit has been set mainly on competition issues.
– It does not take into account at all the ethical violations that have now become new within a few years. That is why new common ethical rules for sport have been developed, Lindblom says.
However, Lindblom points out that there is a provision in the rules governing disciplinary action in martial arts that may be considered for serious reasons, even if it has not been notified. The time limit of one week is therefore no justification in these cases.
– One might think that ethical suspicions of violation are often for these compelling reasons.
Member of the Bureau of the Joint Disciplinary Committee for Martial Arts Kari-Matti Lehti said yesterday that reports of harassment have also been left unaddressed, citing a one-week time limit.
– In history, we have had the kind of solutions in which this one-week deadline has cut the possibility of dealing with the harassment situation, Lehti said.
The Joint Disciplinary Board for Ethical Violations in Sport has started
At the beginning of the year, the Joint Disciplinary Committee for Ethical Violations in Sport began its work. The Olympic Committee’s fully independent Disciplinary Board distributes sanctions for serious ethical violations following Suek’s investigation.
The rules came into force on 1 January 2022. All violations that have occurred during the new rules will be dealt with in accordance with these rules.
– Of course, there hasn’t been much stuff yet. Currently, just over 30 unions have joined. The hope is that everyone is involved, because that is the only way to treat all athletes equally. Lindblom emphasizes.
– Improving the equality and legal protection of athletes were important reasons for starting to draw up new rules under the auspices of the Olympic Committee. In many cases, the old rules of sports federations did not even cover ethical or harassment issues. Sports have traditionally focused on regulating their own competitive activities, Lindblom recalls.
Suek’s degrees don’t talk about time limits of a week, but much older things are taken into account. According to Lindblom, the new code of ethical discipline has a time limit that allows a case that is more than five years old to be inadmissible, but that is no absolute limit.
– We handle old cases in accordance with the unions’ own disciplinary regulations. If they do not have time limits, we also have no choice but that the more time it takes, the harder it will be to figure it out.
The last time harassment occurred was when Helsingin Sanomat (you switch to another service) said the boxer Jonna Hakkarainen harassment, mental violence, manipulation, control, intimidation and harassment.
In January, Hakkarainen announced that his former coach, Suek, had been transferred to the Joint Disciplinary Committee for Martial Arts. Suek did not actually participate in the investigation of the case.
– We helped to bring the matter before the Martial Arts Disciplinary Committee, we did not investigate it further, Lindblom said.
The Martial Arts Disciplinary Committee made a decision on the matter on Monday night, but the decision has not yet been published.