EBN- The UN General Assembly has called for a traditional “Olympic Truce”during next summer’s Paris Games, as Russia again condemned what it called “political interference” in sport.
The resolution, adopted with 118 votes in favor to none against, “urges Member States to observe the Olympic Truce individually and collectively” from seven days before the start of the games next summer until seven days after the Paralympic Games – also in Paris – have concluded.
Russia and Syria abstained from the vote.
The resolution, prepared by Olympic host nation France, also calls for cooperation “to collectively implement the values of the Olympic Truce around the world.”
“I cannot remember a time when the world was facing so much confrontation, division and polarization,” Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, said in an address to the General Assembly in New York.
“In this fragile world, this Olympic Truce resolution is more relevant than ever… This resolution is our opportunity to send an unequivocal signal to the world. Yes, we can come together even in times of wars and crises. Yes, we can join hands and work together for a better future.”
Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris games organizing committee, added: “The Games are an extremely inspiring example, because they show what we have in common rather than what divides us.”
Inspired by the ancient Greek tradition of “ekecheiria,” which required the cessation of all hostilities during the ancient Olympic Games, the “truce” was reintroduced by the UN in 1993, following an IOC push.
Olympic Truce resolutions occur every two years before the Winter and Summer Games, but Russia called for a vote this year, saying the text should have included references to “equal depoliticized access to sport” competitions.
