The 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Olympic Truce Resolution on 19 November 2025, calling for the observance of the Olympic Truce for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The resolution calls on UN Member States to observe the Olympic Truce from seven days prior to the start of theMilano Cortina 2026 Games (February 6) until seven days after the end of the Paralympic Winter Games (March 15). The resolution “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal” was agreed on by the UN Member States by consensus. 165 UN Member States co-sponsored the resolution.

The tradition of the “Olympic Truce”, or “Ekecheiria”, goes back to Ancient Greece. In the IX century BC, three kings – Iphitos of Elis, Cleisthenes of Pisa and Lycurgus of Sparta – signed a treaty to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all athletes and spectators from these Greek city-states, temporarily suspending the conflict with each other in which they were almost constantly engaged. In the 1990s, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to revive the concept with a view to protecting, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to use the power of sport to promote peace.

Addressing the UNGA, IOC President Kirsty Coventry reminded that the IOC and the UN need to work together to keep sport and politics apart. “This means athletes must be able to enter host countries and take part in competitions — not face the threat of being left back at home because they are denied a visa for politically motivated reasons. The final list of competitors must be decided by International Federations, not by governments. And athletes must not be judged on where they come from but rather on their sporting merits.”

Introducing the resolution on behalf of Italy, Giovanni Malagò, President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, reminded the UN Member States about the core message of Milano Cortina 2026: Armonia – Harmony. “It is a message and principle which has deep roots in Italian culture and history. Renaissance artists, writers and philosophers like Michelangelo, Leonardo and Lorenzo de Medici promoted universal themes of beauty, reason and harmony,” said Malagò. 

The IOC’s commitment to the Olympic Truce extends beyond the period of the Olympic Games and has led to the implementation of a series of “sport for peace” activities through the National Olympic Committees.

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