UN Human Rights Treaties

United Nations
A/RES/60/8
General Assembly
Distr.: General
1 December 2005
Sixtieth session
Agenda item 48 (a)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 3 November 2005
[without reference to a Main Committee (A/60/L.15 and Add.1)]
60/8. Building a peaceful and better world through sport and
the Olympic ideal
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 56/75 of 11 December 2001, in which it decided to
consider the item entitled “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and
the Olympic ideal” every two years in advance of each Summer and Winter Olympic
Games,
Recalling also its resolution 58/6 of 3 November 2003, in which it decided to
include in the provisional agenda of its sixtieth session the sub-item entitled
“Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal” and to
consider this sub-item before the XX Olympic Winter Games,
Bearing in mind its resolution 48/11 of 25 October 1993, which, inter alia,
revived the ancient Greek tradition of ekecheiria or “Olympic Truce” calling for a
truce during the Games that would encourage a peaceful environment and ensuring
the safe passage and participation of athletes and others at the Games and, thereby,
mobilizing the youth of the world to the cause of peace,
Taking into account the inclusion in the United Nations Millennium
Declaration1 of an appeal for the observance of the Olympic Truce now and in the
future and support for the International Olympic Committee in its efforts to promote
peace and human understanding through sport and the Olympic ideal,
Recalling its resolution 58/5 of 3 November 2003, in which it decided to
proclaim 2005 the International Year for Sport and Physical Education, as a means
to promote education, health, development and peace,
Recognizing that the goal of the Olympic movement is to build a peaceful and
better world by educating the youth of the world through sport, practised without
discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which is based on mutual
understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair play,
Welcoming the joint endeavours of the International Olympic Committee and
the United Nations system in fields such as human development and poverty
_______________
1 See resolution 55/2.
05-48802.
A/RES/60/8
2
alleviation, humanitarian assistance, health promotion and HIV/AIDS prevention,
combating malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, basic education,
gender equality and environmental protection,
Recognizing the important role of sport in achieving internationally agreed
development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, and
reaffirming the commitments undertaken in this regard by the Heads of State and
Government gathered at the World Summit of the General Assembly, held in
New York from 14 to 16 September 2005,
Noting with satisfaction the flying of the United Nations flag at the Olympic
Games,
1. Urges Member States to observe, within the framework of the Charter of
the United Nations, the Olympic Truce, individually or collectively, during the
XX Olympic Winter Games, to be held in Turin, Italy, from 10 to 26 February 2006,
and the following Paralympic Winter Games, to be held also in Turin, from 10 to
19 March 2006, by ensuring the safe passage and participation of athletes at the
Games;
2. Welcomes the decision of the International Olympic Committee to
mobilize international sports organizations and the National Olympic Committees of
the Member States to undertake concrete actions at the local, national, regional and
world levels to promote and strengthen a culture of peace based on the spirit of the
Olympic Truce and to cooperate with the national committees of the International
Year for Sport and Physical Education;
3. Requests the Secretary-General to promote the observance of the
Olympic Truce among Member States, drawing the attention of world public
opinion to the contribution such a truce would make to the promotion of
international understanding, peace and goodwill, and to cooperate with the
International Olympic Committee in the realization of this objective;
4. Calls upon Member States to cooperate with the International Olympic
Committee and all concerned agencies and programmes of the United Nations in
their efforts to use the Olympic Truce as an instrument to promote peace, during and
beyond the Olympic Games period, and to implement projects using sport as a tool
for development;
5. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-second session
the sub-item entitled “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the
Olympic ideal” and to consider this sub-item before the Games of the
XXIX Olympiad, to be held in Beijing in 2008.
43rd plenary meeting
3 November 2005