General Assembly Session 56 meeting 83

Mr. Hybl (United States)

Building a peaceful and better world is the underlying principle of the United Nations Charter. Usually the Organization does this by considering peace and security, sustainable development, human rights and humanitarian assistance. Today we are considering how to build a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal.

Through sport one learns fair play, mutual understanding, solidarity and friendship. These are virtues that the United Nations strives to embody in its work and as an example to the world community. Today, the Assembly can support the ideal of teaching the youth of the world not about sport, but to use sport to promote peace and the well-being of society.

At its forty-eighth session in 1993, the Assembly responded to the appeal of the International Olympic Committee, which revived in the modern era the ancient tradition of the "Olympic Truce". Commencing in the seventh century BC, the Olympic Truce was established as a principle of inter-State relations for ensuring the safe passage and participation of all concerned to Olympia for the Olympic Games.

The Assembly also proclaimed the year 1994 as the International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal on the occasion of the centenary of the International Olympic Committee, which was founded in 1894. Its revival was reaffirmed by the Assembly at its forty-ninth session prior to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the Centennial Games, hosted by our country; again at its fifty-first session on the occasion of the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan; and then again in 1999 prior to the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, Australia. Since 1994, various Presidents of the Assembly and Secretaries-General of the United Nations have made solemn appeals to the world community to continue this tradition.

Most recently, the historic Final Declaration of the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 included an appeal to observe the Olympic Truce and to support the International Olympic Committee in its efforts to promote peace and human understanding through sport and the Olympic ideal.

It gives my delegation great pleasure that the United States is the host of the XIX Olympic Winter Games, to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from 8 to 24 February 2002. I am particularly pleased, not only because I am a member of the United States delegation to the fifty-sixth session of the Assembly, but also because I am a member of the International Olympic Committee and have served as President of the United States Olympic Committee during Olympic Games. I would like to note that there are at least several Olympians in this great Hall today and we certainly appreciate their presence. They continue to apply the lessons learned through athletic competition for promoting a peaceful and better world.

Salt Lake's opening ceremonies are a mere 59 days from today. Since the revival of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, Greece, this is the eighth time that the United States will have served as host country and we invite the world to our doorstep for what we feel will be the best Winter Games ever. These will be the first Games of the new century and of the new millennium. Athletes from 80 nations, the largest number ever to participate in the Olympic Winter Games, will process in the opening ceremonies and they will pledge their honour to uphold the values of fair play and honest competition. Once again, those somewhat simple but inspiring acts will reinforce the scope and power of the Olympic movement and, for the first time, link athletes of the twenty-first century with those of ancient Greece. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee and all those concerned, including over 27,000 volunteers in Utah, are promising to do their best to ensure the success of this world festival of winter sport.

Building on the traditions established by the International Olympic Committee, my country, as host of the next Games, today introduces in plenary draft resolution A/56/L.47, "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal". We appreciate the fact that this Olympic relay team has 161 sponsors. I should like to read out the names of the countries that have been added to the list of sponsors since yesterday: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Gabon, Grenada, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ireland, Lebanon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Building upon the Assembly's support for this initiative began in 1993. The United Nations and the International Olympic Committee have launched joint projects in such fields as development, humanitarian assistance, health promotion, education, women, eradication of poverty and the fights against HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and juvenile delinquency. For example, the Olympic Solidarity Fund established by the International Olympic Committee will spend over $200 million between 2001 and 2004 for the development of sport scholarships for underprivileged athletes in developing countries. The World Anti-Doping Agency was initiated by the International Olympic Committee and is composed of government representatives and sport movement leaders.

Furthermore, the Secretary-General hosted the recently established International Olympic Truce Foundation last May at Headquarters so as to promote continued cooperation. I am pleased to recall that the United States Senate subsequently passed a resolution supporting the purposes of that Foundation and that Mr. Han Seung-soo, in his capacity as President of the Assembly, is a member of its voluntary Board of Directors.

Let me close by expressing my sincere thanks to the International Olympic Committee for organizing a world conference on sport and Olympic volunteerism last month in New York City as a gesture of solidarity in the framework of the United Nations current International Year of Volunteers. As the 27,000 volunteers in Salt Lake will demonstrate in a few weeks, the Olympic movement happens only because of the spirit of volunteerism and goodwill. In that same goodwill, my delegation today welcomes the opportunity before this great gathering to draw the world's attention to the tradition of the Olympic Truce on the eve of the Games. Therefore, on behalf of the host country of both these Games and of the United Nations, the United States looks forward to welcoming the athletes of the world for the XIX Olympic Winter Games.

Mr. Shen Guofang (China)

The Olympic spirit, initiated more than 2,000 years ago, is a distillation of humanity's effort to seek self-development and fulfilment. Over this long period, the Olympic ideal has gradually developed into a symbol of mankind's aspiration for and pursuit of a peaceful and better world, encouraging us to overcome difficulties and to achieve progress upon progress.

Despite the two tragic World Wars, people's aspiration for peace and their pursuit of the Olympic ideal have never wavered since Mr. Pierre de Coubertin initiated the modern Olympic games at the end of the nineteenth century. The establishment of the United Nations, the purposes and principles of its Charter, and the efforts it has made to achieve world peace and common economic development have also contributed in no small way to promoting the development of the Olympic Games.

Today mankind has already stepped into the twenty-first century. The nations of the world should continue to adhere to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, vigorously promote the Olympic spirit, seek peaceful solutions to international disputes and regional conflicts, enhance understanding and friendship among civilizations through dialogue and exchange, and work for continuous, global, social and economic development through cooperation. Whether they live in the East or the West, the North or the South, the common aspiration of people all over the world today is that the twenty-first century will be a new century marked by human development and progress.

The terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September constituted a fundamental violation of the Olympic ideal as well as a serious challenge to human civilization. The international community should strengthen its cooperation against terrorism, fight it in all its forms and strive to eradicate its roots.

The nineteenth Winter Olympic Games will be held at Salt Lake City in the United States in February next year. The host country and the International Olympic Committee have carried out much careful and thoughtful preparatory work in this regard. We hope that the international community can work together to ensure that the Games will be a complete success.

On 13 July this year, the city of Beijing was awarded the opportunity to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The world has seen the love and respect of the ancient Oriental civilization for the Olympic spirit as well as its aspiration for and pursuit of world peace, friendship and development. Once again we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to friends from countries around the world, as well as the International Olympic Committee, for having supported us in this effort. We believe that holding the Olympic Games in China, a country with a 5,000-year history, will not only represent the world's full recognition of China's great achievements since its reform and opening-up policy, but also provide a good opportunity for exchange between Oriental and Occidental civilizations. China will prove through real action that Beijing can give the world an outstanding Olympic Games.

Mr. Boisson (Monaco)

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