Comune > Olimpiadi 2006 > Olympic Truce
As ancient as the Games themselves, the concept of Olympic Truce, "Ekecheiria" in Greek, dates to the 11th century B.C., when all hostilities ceased to allow those attending or participating the Games to travel to Olympia in safety.
Since then, the Olympic Truce has represented a cornerstone of the Olympic Games, which the International Olympic Committee decided to revive in the 1990s, with the aim of safeguarding athletes and sport in general, indissolubly
binding the Olympic ideal to the values of peace, dialog and mutual respect, and lastly, contributing to create an opportunity for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
The first Olympic Truce of the modern era was staged in 1992, when the IOC launched an appeal calling upon all nations and national and international organizations to observe the Truce; this allowed athletes from former Yugoslavia
to participate in the Barcelona Olympics under the Olympic flag, without any indication of nationality.
Starting the following year, the General Assembly of the United Nations has regularly expressed its support one year
prior to each edition of the Olympics through an ad hoc resolution inviting Member States to observe the Truce and
solemnly recognize its importance. Since 2000 this has been enshrined in a special paragraph of the Millennium
Declaration.
Following a now well established tradition, on the occasion of the Torino 2006 Olympic and Para-Olympic Games, the
Committee for the Organization of the Games and the City of Torino, together with the Regione Piemonte, the Provincia di
Torino and the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), are committed to staging a rich program of events aimed at
supporting and promoting the Olympic Truce. Besides the actions undertaken to encourage the adoption of the resolution
by the UN General Assembly, these local bodies are staging a multitude of events at national and international level focusing
on the themes of peace, cooperation and justice during the run-up to the Games, starting in September 2005.