UN and IOC Press Seven-Week Olympic Truce for Milan-Cortina 2026

Overview

• The call, backed by a UN General Assembly resolution, seeks a global pause from one week before the Feb. 6 opening through one week after the March 15 Paralympics.
• The General Assembly today took note of a Solemn Appeal urging warring parties to agree to “true mutual ceasefires” during the Games.
• The truce is nonbinding and has never stopped a war, with a reported 0-17 record and past violations including Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine during a truce period.
• Past Olympic truce efforts yielded limited outcomes, including a one-day pause for aid deliveries in besieged Sarajevo in 1994 and a joint Korean march in 2000.
• Researchers at Uppsala University report a record 61 active conflicts in 2024 and expect even more in 2025, while the Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight this week.