The United Nations and the Olympic Truce
The ancient Greek tradition of the ekecheiria, or “Olympic Truce”, was born in the eighth century B.C., serving as a hallowed principle of the Olympic Games.
In 1992, the International Olympic Committee renewed this tradition by calling upon all nations to observe the Truce.
Through its resolution 48/11 of 25 October 1993, the General Assembly urged Member States to observe the Olympic Truce from the seventh day before the opening to the seventh day following the closing of each Olympic Games.
The Olympic movement aspires to contribute to a peaceful future for humankind through the educational value of sport.
It brings together athletes from all parts 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.
As an expression of these common objectives, in 1998 the International Olympic Committee decided to fly the United Nations flag at all competition sites of the Olympic Games. The United Nations for its part, is expanding its cooperation with the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic family at large through a number of agreements and partnerships.
“Let the Olympic Flame shine as a beacon to human solidarity. Let the Olympic Truce help spread a culture of peace”
(Secretary General UN)
The first initiative to revive the modern day Olympic Truce was launched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1992.
In order 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 and the Olympic Games by adopting by consensus, 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 recognizing the importance of the Olympic Games and of the IOC initiatives for human well-being and international understanding.
“The Olympic spirit is the most important symbol of peace in this world which sees so many conflicts, so many victims. The Olympic spirit allows people to be together from all over the world, to respect each other, to serve the themes of tolerance and mutual understanding.
These make the basic elements of peace possible”
(Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary General)
The Olympic Truce is symbolized by the Dove of Peace with the traditional Olympic flame in the background.
In a world that is plagued by wars and animosity, the Peace-Dove symbol represents one of the IOC’s ideals to build a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal.
The Olympic Flame has brought warm friendship to all the people of the world through sharing and global togetherness.
In the symbol, the flame is made up of colorful, effervescent elements – reminiscent of festivities experienced in the celebration of the human spirit. These elements represent people of all races coming together for the observance of the Truce.
What is “Olympic Truce”?
The tradition of the “Olympic Truce”, or “Ekecheiria”, was established in Ancient Greece in the ninth century BC through the signing of a treaty between three kings – Iphitos of Elis, Cleosthenes of Pisa and Lycurgus of Sparta – to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all athletes and spectators from these Greek city-states, which were otherwise almost constantly engaged in conflict with each other.
Taking into account the new political reality in which sport and the Olympic Games exist, the IOC decided to revive the concept of the Olympic Truce for the Olympic Games, with a view to protecting, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to harness the power of sport to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation more broadly.
Since 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly has repeatedly expressed its support for the Olympic Truce ideal and for the IOC’s mission by 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”.