Peace Through Friendship incorporating Olympic Truce: UNESCO Olympic Youth Peace Ambassadors

Sunday, 2 September 2012

UNESCO Olympic Youth Peace Ambassadors

Darryl Macer

For young people who have some time to meet with a group of UNESCO Olympic Youth Peace Ambassadors next week in London, you are welcome to join us at 10am - 6pm each day in Southall area, London. For more details send an email to Dr. Darryl Macer, d.macer@unesco.org Could anyone organising Olympic Truce related activities in London until 9 Sept please let us know also.

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London’s ambassadors show support for Olympic Truce

All followers of our Olympic Truce Facebook family are invited to a wonderful, free event on 16 August. Central Hall Westminster, opposite Westminster Abbey, which hosted the first meeting of the UN General Assembly in 1946 will witness another important United Nations occasion. HE Mr Khaled Al-Duwaisan GCVO, ambassador of the State of Kuwait, senior ambassador in London, will be joined by fellow ambassadors in confirming their countries’ co-sponsorship of the UK’s Resolution to promote the Olympic Truce unanimously passed at the United Nations on 14 October 2011. This confirmed their support for human development initiatives through sport and co-operation with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and the sporting community in general.

Original Mandate for our Group

17 October 2011 – The United Nations today called for the traditi...onal age-old truce to be observed during next summer’s Olympics in London, urging warring parties around the world to lay down their arms as the Games’ ancient Greek founders did some 2,700 years ago. In a resolution co-sponsored by all 193 Member States, the General Assembly exhorted all nations to observe the Olympic Truce individually and collectively for six weeks, starting with the opening of the XXX Olympiad on 27 July and ending with the closing of the XIV Paralympic Games for disabled athletes on 9 September. It called on Member States “to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee in their efforts to use sport as a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the Olympic and Paralympic Games period.”The resolution has itself become a tradition at the UN, being passed every two years preceding the holding of the Summer and Winter Games respectively. The resolution has itself become a tradition at the UN, being passed every two years preceding the holding of the Summer and Winter Games respectively. “The fact that the resolution was co-sponsored by all 193 UN Member States shows how much they support the idea of mobilizing the unique potential of sport to advance development and peace objectives, thus providing all actors – including the UN, governments, NGOs (non-government organizations), sports federations – with an ever stronger basis for continuing to leverage that power and to strengthen their collaboration.” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development Wilfried Lemke said. Lord Sebastian Coe, double Olympic gold medallist and chair of the London 2012 Organizing Committee, introduced the resolution on behalf of the United Kingdom. “It would be folly to suggest that sport provides a complete answer, a panacea for all our social ills,” he said. “But it can and does help to mend broken communities, rebuild trust, rediscover self-respect, and foster the values at the core of our common humanity.”

First Focus

Why are we supporting the Olympic Truce? Because in ancient Greece, the Olympic Truce enabled athletes to travel unhindered through the lands of traditional enemies to and from the Olympic Games. So, during intense physical competition, there was created the spirit of ekecheiria, the holding of hands in peace. In 1993, the UN General Assembly agreed to the International Olympic Committee’s appeal to revive the Olympic Truce, to mobilise youth in the cause of peace. So, in the Olympic Village in London, the flags of the United Nations and the Olympic Truce will fly together. What should we all do? Create new pictures, sculpture, poems, photos and ideas in the spirit of ekecheiria, the holding of hands in peace. Share them with each other through this Facebook Olympic Truce community. In a few days, we have attracted friends on every continent. Now, together we can take the message of the Olympic Truce round the world. Start sending your wonderful ideas to us and let’s hold hands in peace with each other in the spirit of peace.