• The UN General Assembly called for the observance of a traditional ‘Olympic Truce’ during the next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris.

• The Paris Olympics will be held from July 26 to August 11.

• The resolution urges Member States for cessation of hostilities globally starting seven days before the opening of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and ending seven days after they conclude.

• It calls for observing the Olympic Truce “to ensure the safe passage, access and participation of athletes, officials and all other accredited persons taking part in the Games of the Olympiad and the Paralympic Games, and to contribute through other appropriate measures to the safe organisation of the Games”.

• The General Assembly comprises all 193 UN Member States, and 120 voted on the resolution. It received 118 votes in favour and none against, with Russia and Syria abstaining.

What is the ‘Olympic Truce’?

• The tradition of the “Olympic Truce”, or “ekecheiria”, was established in 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.

• During this truce period, athletes, artists and their families, and ordinary pilgrims could travel safely to take part in or watch the Olympic Games and then return to their respective countries.

• In 1992, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) renewed this tradition by calling upon all nations to observe the Truce.

• Since 1993, the United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly expressed its support for the Olympic Truce.

• The resolution has become a UN tradition as it is up for consideration every two years, in advance of the Summer and Winter 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.

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