United Nations General Assembly Adopts Spirit of Olympic Truce Resolution UN supports IOC to promote peace and human understanding through sport and the Olympic ideal New York - October 31, 2007 The 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the Olympic Truce Resolution for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”, General Assembly Resolution A/62/L.2 was introduced by China, the host nation, and co-sponsored by 187 member states. The United Nations resolution "urges Member States to observe, within the framework of the Charter of the United Nations, the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively, during the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, the vision of which is based on the slogan “One world, one dream”, and the following Paralympic Games" and "calls upon all Member States to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee in its efforts to use sport as an instrument to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the Olympic Games period." Ancient Greek Tradition The ancient Greek tradition of Ekecheiria (“Olympic Truce”) was revived in the lead-up to the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games, in an effort to bring peace to war-torn Yugoslavia 10 years after the Winter Games were held in Sarajevo. United Nations General Assembly resolution 48/11 of October 25, 1993 called "for a truce during the Games that would encourage a peaceful environment, ensuring the safe passage and participation of athletes and relevant persons at the Games and, thereby, mobilizing the youth of the world to the cause of peace." Contributing to the UN Millennium Development Goals The Olympic Truce Resolution demonstrates the important role of sport as a means of promoting peace and implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals. In his address to the General Assembly, IOC President Jacques Rogge said "Sport unites the principles that the Olympic Movement holds dear – education, sustainability, non-discrimination, universality, humanism and solidarity. These are also the principles at the core of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. These are the principles that drive far-reaching social change." The eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (target date 2015) agreed by all the world’s countries and leading development institutions are: · Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger · Achieve Universal Primary Education · Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women · Reduce Child Mortality · Improve Maternal Health · Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases · Ensure Environmental Sustainability · Develop a Global Partnership for Development United Nations Appeal for Olympic Truce New York - February 9, 2006

Calling on all nations to respect and observe the Olympic Truce during the 17-day celebration of the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan cited the fundamental values and ideals shared by both the Olympic Movement and the United Nations - tolerance and understanding, equal opportunity and fair play, and most of all, peace. "In a world growing ever closer and more interconnected, and yet still riven by brutal conflict, dire poverty and cruel injustice, it is more important than ever that we all join forces to give life to those ideals." "One way we can do that is to observe the Olympic Truce - the call for warring parties to lay down their arms while athletes from the community of nations meet under the noble flame of the Olympic torch" "While limited in duration and scope, the Olympic Truce can offer a neutral point of consensus, a window of time to open a dialogue, a pause to provide relief to a suffering population. Over the years, a great deal of support has been voiced worldwide for the concept of the Truce. The challenge before us is to ensure that it has as many practitioners as it has supporters on paper. " United Nations General Assembly President Jan Eliasson noted that "the Olympic Movement aspires to contribute to a peaceful future for humankind through the educational value of sport. It brings together athletes of the world in the greatest of international sports events, the Olympic Games, and it aims to promote the maintenance of peace, mutual understanding and goodwill – goals it shares with the United Nations."

	United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan Visits IOC President Château de Vidy, Lausanne - January 24, 2006 United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan met today with IOC President Jacques Rogge at the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne, his first visit to Chateau de Vidy. The 191 member states of the United Nations General Assembly passed the Olympic Truce resolution, entitled “Building a Peaceful and Better World Through Sport and the Olympic Ideal” last November. During the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games which open February 10th, all participants are to be invited to sign the declaration in favour of the Olympic Truce, on the “Olympic Truce Wall” in the Athletes Village. The IOC President thanked Mr Annan for his continuous support of the Olympic Truce, and other collaborative initiatives between the IOC and various UN agencies, to promote education, health care (particularly the prevention of HIV/AIDS), environmental issues and the role of women in sport and society. The UN Secretary-General also toured the Olympic Museum. ________________________ Photo: (c) IOC/S. Romeu > BACK