United Nations Support
The United Nations is in support of the Olympic Truce and before each Summer and Winter Olympic Games, adopts a resolution called "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal". UN Member States are asked to observe the Olympic Truce, and work towards the settlement of international disagreements by peaceful and diplomatic means. The United Kingdom was the first ever nation to get all 193 UN Member states to sign the Olympic Truce resolution for the 2012 Olympic Games.
UN Support is mainly shown through the resolution. It is also shown by the Solemn Appeals for Truce made by the UN Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly shortly before the Olympic and Winter Olympic Games. The lead office within the UN system is The United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace or UNOSDP. The current UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace is Wilfried Lemke from Bremen, Germany. UNOSDP is situated at the UN Office at Geneva plus a liaison office at UN HQ in New York.
10/17/2011 - The international community pledged to observe the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively. For London 2012, the resolution was officially titled “Sport for Peace and Development: Building a Peaceful and Better World through Sport and the Olympic Ideal” and was introduced by LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe. “The Truce helps to show the world that peace is a possibility," he said Monday in New York City. "It shows the power that sport has to inspire unity, mutual understanding, and respect among different types of people.” Coe exhorted all member states of the UN to respect the ideals of the Truce. “Countries should feel an obligation to respect the Truce because it holds true to the idea that we can coexist without the need for discrimination and fighting," he urged. “It gives us something to strive towards outside of the Olympics and the arena of sport.”
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