UN Secretary-General calls on countries to follow Olympic Truce

July 28, 2012: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged countries to follow through with the Olympic Truce, and highlighted the role of sport in promoting peace, dialogue and development.
“If people and nations can set aside their differences, if they can place harmony over hostility, if they can do it for one day, or for one event, they can do it forever,” Mr. Ban said in his remarks at an event on the Olympic Truce and Sport for Social Change in London. “That is the message of the Olympic Truce. That is the dream on which the United Nations is built, and the goal of our daily work,” he added.
Based on the ancient Greek tradition whereby athletes, artists, their relatives and pilgrims could travel safely to the Olympic Games and afterwards return home safely, the Olympic Truce called for the cessation of all conflicts during the sports event. The modern-day version of the Truce has been promoted annually through a General Assembly resolution since 1993, and it was extended to the Paralympic Games for disabled athletes in 2006.

The resolution for this year’s Games was the first time that all 193 UN Member States co-sponsored it and passed it unanimously. Member States exhorted nations to observe the Olympic Truce individually and collectively, starting with the opening of the XXX Olympiad on 27 July and ending with the closing of the XIV Paralympic Games, which start in late August and end on 9 September.