UN Calls for Global Truce During 2026 Olympics: "Sport Can Be a Ray of Hope in a World Torn by Conflict”

The UN General Assembly has adopted, by consensus, a resolution calling on all states around the world to establish a truce during the 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The initiative, greeted with applause by diplomats and representatives of the Olympic movement, resumes the ancient tradition of ekecheiria, the sacred truce of Ancient Greece, AP reports. The text of the resolution emphasizes that the cessation of hostilities during this period can become "an instrument for promoting peace, dialogue, tolerance and reconciliation.” The truce aims to provide athletes around the world with safe conditions to travel and participate in competitions, mobilizing young people in the service of peace. The Winter Olympics are scheduled for February 4-26, 2026, followed by the Paralympics from March 6-15.

• A tradition revived but rarely observed

The UN resumed calls for an Olympic Truce in 1993, after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) initiative allowed athletes from the war-torn former Yugoslavia to compete in the 1992 Barcelona Games. However, the implementation of the truce has remained largely symbolic: many states have ignored the call in the past, and it remains to be seen whether the current resolution will influence major ongoing conflicts.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry told the General Assembly that, in a world marked by violence and division, the Olympic Games can create "a rare space where people come together not as adversaries but as equals.” She described the Olympic Truce as "a call to put aside what divides us and focus on what unites us”, but warned that athletes alone cannot promote peace. Coventry called on states to "separate sport from politics” and not use visas as a tool for exclusion. "Athletes should not be judged by their origin, but by their sporting merits”, she stressed.

• Italy: "Sport can be an alternative to rivalry and division”

The resolution was presented by Giovanni Malagò, president of the 2026 Olympic organizing committee. He said that despite the competitive nature of the Games, their history demonstrates "something even stronger, a sense of humanity that transcends even the greatest sporting achievements”. "In a time of growing discord and conflict, sport and the Olympic Games can offer a ray of hope, an alternative to rivalry and division”, Malagò said. The UN resolution remains a strong moral appeal, but the real impact will depend on the willingness of states to put conflicts on hold in the name of an ancient ideal: competition without war, rivalry without violence, unity through sport.