The first initiatives were launched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1992. In order for the project to have a greater impact, the IOC relayed it to the United Nations (UN). Since 1993, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly expressed its support for the IOC by unanimously adopting, every two years, one year before each edition of the Olympic Games, a resolution entitled "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal". Through this symbolic resolution, the UN invites its member States to observe the Olympic Truce individually or collectively, and to seek, in conformity with the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter, the peaceful settling of all international conflicts through peaceful and diplomatic means, and recognising the importance of the IOC initiatives for human well-being and international understanding.
"Olympic ideals are also United Nations ideals: tolerance, equality, fair play and, most of all, peace. Together, the Olympics and the United Nations can be a winning team. But the contest will not be won easily. War, intolerance and deprivation continue to stalk the earth. We must fight back. Just as athletes strive for world records, so must we strive for world peace"
Kofi A. Annan, United Nations Secretary General, September 2000
CHRONOLOGY
Independent athletes of Yugoslavia, parading in a uniform bearing the Olympic rings
1992: the IOC launched an Appeal for the observance of the Olympic Truce and negotiated with the United Nations to allow athletes of the former Republic of Yugoslavia to participate in the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Barcelona.
1994: the year was proclaimed the International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the UN. The appeal for the observance of the Olympic Truce allowed the participation of athletes from the former Republic of Yugoslavia in the Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer. An IOC delegation visited Sarajevo, which was at war, to extend its solidarity with the city that hosted the XIV Olympic Winter Games in 1984.
1995: The IOC president attended the UN General Assembly for the first time in history.
1998: The Olympic Truce was taken into consideration by member States during the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano and contributed, to a certain extent, to avoid war in Iraq and to set up a mediation mission by the UN Secretary General, which led to the signature of a memorandum of understanding between the UN and the Iraqi government.
1999: The 54th UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the Olympic Truce in preparation for the Olympic Games in Sydney.
2000: The United Nations Millennium Summit, held in New York with the participation of more than 150 heads of state and government, adopted a Millennium Declaration that included a paragraph on the observance of the Olympic Truce. During the Opening Ceremony of the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, the South and North Korean delegations paraded in the stadium together under the flag of the Korean peninsula.
2001: The 56th UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the Olympic Truce in preparation for the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
2004: More than 300 world wide personalities have signed the Truce appeal. Many of them also signed the Truce Wall created by the Greek Government during the 2004 Athens Games.
2005: The 60th UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the Olympic Truce in preparation for the Olympic Winter Games in Turin.
2006: During the Opening of the Olympic Winter Games in Turin, IOC President Jacques Rogge launched a strong appeal for peace, backed up by an impressive dove composed of human bodies and a peace song sung on stage by Yoko Ono and Peter Gabriel.
2007: The 62th UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the Olympic Truce in preparation for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
