KlG. i , Ox «' INZTITOYTO I it i ^=1y^"Y^r^--'iJj|gg«»y'!sit^ps*'lBE»i"**»» AIABAAKANfKQN INTER-BALKAN ZXEZEQN RELATIONS 4 - A6qva 105 59 4. Dragatsaniou s?r. - Athens 105 59 N.G.O, |J£ Ei5iKo ilupgoiiAEUTiKO PdAo OTO OIKOVOJJIXO KOI KOIVUJVIKO SuppouAio TOU O.H.E. N.G.O. in Special, Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of ihe tel.: 01-0-32 28 116 fax: 01-0-3237 891 e-mail ; [email protected] Athens, 25-9-2002

To the Excellency ULLf Secretary General of the United Nations UNITED NATIONS New York 10017, USA

Your Excellency Secretary General,

The d^gaton^^e_^>stitute_of Inter-balkari _Reiations who participated in the 55* conference ptthelm^GO's. on "SeptT 9-11, 2002, in ..New .York, in appreciation' for your contribution to the international peace and security, the protection of human rights and your devotion to the principles and values of the U.N. Charterjiue to una < S9J3JT.]^J5™!L21^ Jhe Medal of AleS ,U ... f. A.. .. J -. ./ -rl Jc t^^> Already received it.

Besides, I v nference^the members of our delegation J -. o. ign for the support of "the Olympic Tn General Assembly has d~eciHed~uiTLamm6usi •e been collected from participants all ove ; as one step towards international peace. Following i that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of rnize an official event for the Olympic":

In view of t ould send us a written message fromypu i will be announced (luring tKe~cerem<_ ^ id to l\ International Tribune..

We are expecting relevant messages from several other prominent personalities.

With my cordial thanks, Yours Sincerely, ident of the Institute i;>-i virs^ii. \<& :MI: r¥111HL vo\ ^^:;:i^i" < ^ /?

Td LI T68i£2£:: 'ON XUJ SI~lbHl: NOdd INZTiTOYTO * ik i ^- AIABAA KAN IKON iNTER-BALKAN ZXEZEQN RELATIONS 4 - AQqva 105 59 4. Dragatsaniou sir. - Athens 105 59 N.G.O. \is. Ei5iKo £ujj(3ouA£:uTiK6 PciAo aro OixovoptKo KOI KOIVLUVIKO ZupfSouAio YOU O.H.E. JMX3.O. in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations te[.; 01-0-32 23 116 fax:01-0-3237891 e-mail ; [email protected] Athens, 25-9-2002

To the Excellency Kofi Annan D f E Secretary General of the United Nations UNITED NATIONS New York 10017, USA

Your Excellency Secretary General,

The dj^gatioj^rfjhje Jr^ti^ who participated in the 55* conference of. the tl.N." NGO's . on"SeptT"9"f 1, 2002, in ..New .York, in appreciation" for your contribution to the international peace and security, the protection of human rights and your devotion to the principles and values of the U.N. Charter^due to unable to meet you in person, .^^^SliLmLSS^S!^.^^^^^ the Medal ^ of Alexander the Great which I hope that you have already received it .

Besides, I would like to inform you that, during the conference^the ; members of our delegation they made an Appeal to the participanrs~to"sign for the support of "The Olympic Truce, about which as you know, the U.N. General Assembly has "deciHed'TJnanimously in its favor. A sum of 850 signatures have been collected from participants all over the world. This action may be considered as one step towards international peace.

Following this activity, we would like to inform you that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country, with our cooperation will organize an official event for the Olympic Truce, sooff

In view of this event, we will consider an honor if you could send us a written^ •which will be announced messag^e (Turing ^trie^ceremo ny newspapers and to our magazine International Tribune..

We are expecting relevant messages from several other prominent personalities.

With my cordial thanks, Yours Sincerely, of the Institute Balkan Rotations'

i' { i • -.-^. -:f.f :"-»•- i '^j \\V:-\ ^Sfsfewr^ \\^\-4s£&fr~. lUlil

Td 200Z L\ 'ON XbJ SI"lbHl: WOdd Office of the Secretary General Correspondence Log # 22-16976 Logged by: Wossene Lakew

From Thalis Mylonas In / Out Incoming President of the Institute of Log status Logged Inter-Balkan Relations Athens, Greece Through Incoming n/a Ref# To SG Outgoing n/a Ref# cc Case # NGO "I" (reply dtd 01/10/02) Correspondence Requested SG to send a written message about the Olympic Truce which Subject Ministry of Foreign Affairs will organize with them soon. Informs in appreciation of SG's work, they have sent an Honorary Diploma and the Medal of Alexander the Great(?). Informs SG's message will be announced during the ceremony and published in the newspapers and to their magazine Int'l Tribune. Date sent 25 September 2002 Reply by Reply date not specified Date received 25 September 2002 Reply date n/a Distribution Kevin S. Kennedy/NY/UNO Remarks

Editors Document author Wossene Lakew Viewers Viewing of scanned document(s) or attachement(s) is open to ail users of this CorLOG.

Audit Trail Entered by Wossene Lakew on 25/09/2002 03:51 PM Edited last by Marina Garde on 02/10/2002 12:04 PM 26/09/2002 at 9:45:28 AM - Track note by Aida Njanja Fassu: KSK received 30/09/2002 at 11:20:45 AM • Track note by Aida Njanja Fassu: CS from KSK: can we discuss reply? 30/09/2002 at 4:07:08 PM - Track note by Aida Njanja Fassu: ANF from KSK: regret SG's statements on the Olympic Truce (May 2001. Feb.2002) Dispatch + File

Central from ANF UNITED NATIONS ImM NATIONS UNIES

PO9TAL ADDRESt—ADRE36E POSTAtE: UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. 10017 CABLE ADDRE»«—AORI«»E TELEQRAPHIQUt: UNATI»N> HEW? ORK

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL CABINET DO SECRETAIRE GENERAL

1 October 2002

Dear Mr. Mylonas,

I write in reply to your recent letter to the Secretary-General requesting a message from him about the Olympic Truce. The Secretary-General is honoured by your gesture in offering him the Honorary Diploma and the Medal of Alexander the Great. I should point out, however, that the Secretary-General does not accept awards in absentia or without prior notice. (Please note that the award and medal were not received by our office).

I trust that you will understand that due to the volume of requests that the Secretary-General receives, he is unable to provide a message for your event.

The Secretary-General has, however, been a proponent of the Olympic Truce, and issued a statement on the Truce for the Salt Lake City Winter bp1rl in February. A copy of his statement has been enclosed. In May 2001, the Secretary-General hosted a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Olympic Truce Foundation at United Nations Headquarters in New York. At that time, he made a strong statement supporting the mission of the Olympic Truce, which I have also enclosed.

Thalis Mylonas President Institute of Inter-Balkan Relations Athens We have been working closely with Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, who is the Director of the International Olympic Truce Centre. I trust you have been in touch with Ambassador Lambrinidis regarding your organization's initiative. Also, you may wish to contact Ms. Maria-Luisa Chavez, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Athens. She can be reached via the fax number (30-10) 523-3639.

On the Secretary-General's behalf, I should nonetheless like to extend his appreciation for your wish to include him in your programme.

With many thanks for your patience and best wishes for a successful event.

Yours sincerely,

Kevin S. Kennedy Officer in Charge Office for External Relatior SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS OLYMPIC TRUCE CAN OFFER WINDOW OF TIM... Page 1 of 2

08/05/2001

Press Release SG/SM/7797

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS OLYMPIC TRUCE CAN OFFER WINDOW OF TIME TO OPEN DIALOGUE AND PAUSE TO RELIEVE SUFFERING

Following is the text of remarks, as delivered today by Secretary-General Kofi Annanto the Board of Directors of the International Olympic Truce Foundation in New York:

I am delighted to welcome all of you to the United Nations. To the many among you who are already familiar with this house, let me say, welcome back. I am grateful to the Foreign Minister of Greece for his initiative in bringing this meeting of your Board to the United Nations.

Above all, let me pay tribute to the International Olympic Committee and to Juan Antonio Samaranch for their vision in reviving the Olympic Truce; and to Greece for its generosity in establishing the International Centre to promote the Truce's ideals.

There is remarkable support worldwide for the concept of the Olympic Truce - this calls for warring parties to lay down their arms while athletes from the entire community of nations meet under the noble flame of the Olympic torch.

Here, at the United Nations, General Assembly resolutions endorsing the Truce have been sponsored by more Member States than any other resolution in the history of the Organization. At last year's Millennium Summit, it was embraced by a record number of heads of State and government in their Millennium Declaration - which the leaders themselves called a landmark document for the twenty-first century.

What, then, do these endorsements represent? Clearly, they reflect a universality shared by the United Nations and the Olympic Movement. As the membership of the United Nations has continued to grow, so has the Olympic Movement grown in the developing world, making it possible for an ever-increasing number of athletes from those countries to participate in the Olympic Games.

But I hope the widespread support for the Olympic Truce speaks not only for its symbolic value, but also for its practical potential. As all of you gathered here know, peacemaking requires tools that can give the parties opportunities to step back from the fray.

While limited in duration and scope, the Olympic Truce can offer a neutral point of consensus, a window of time to open dialogue, a pause to provide relief for the suffering of the population.

How I wish, therefore, that the Truce had as many practitioners as it has supporters on paper! I hope that as Board members of the Olympic Truce Foundation - and as partners of the United Nations - you will keep pressing leaders to make serious use of this tool they have repeatedly endorsed.

The United Nations also looks forward to working with you on the broader mission of the Foundation and the Centre: to promote the Olympic ideals of peace, friendship and international understanding as tools of conflict prevention and peace-building.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/sgsm7797.doc.htm 30/09/2002 SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS OLYMPIC TRUCE CAN OFFER WINDOW OF TIM... Page 2 of 2

In that context, I am delighted that Adolf Ogi, who is here with us today, has agreed to volunteer his time and expertise as my Special Adviser on Sports for Development and Peace. I am grateful to the Government of Switzerland for supporting his efforts to harness the goodwill and energy of sport to the work of the United Nations.

The United Nations family has a long record of engaging the world of sports to advocate a wide range of causes. World-class athletes have lent their names and time to campaigns fighting AIDS and other diseases - I am really grateful to President Samaranch for his support in the fight against AIDS - drug abuse and poverty. Sport has been used to support education and expand opportunities for youth; to encourage community development in societies burdened by inequalities, poverty and the aftermath of conflict; and to ease the trauma and discomfort of refugees and internally displaced people.

These activities are often undertaken ad hoc, at very modest cost. But for those directly involved, they have yielded a high return. In some post-conflict areas, providing simple sports equipment to young people has often proved one of the most effective ways to help restore normal life.

The IOC has been at the forefront of these efforts. Again, let me pay tribute to President Samaranch and to Fekrou Kidane, the IOC Director of International Cooperation, who have done so much to develop the relationship between the United Nations and the Olympic Movement for the benefit of people living in poor countries and in areas troubled by conflict.

I look to you to build further on this work.

http://wvAv.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/sgsm7797.doc.htm 30/09/2002 SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES OBSERVANCE OF OLYMPIC TRUCE DURING S... Page 1 of 1

31/01/2002

Press Release SG/SM/8110

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES OBSERVANCE OF OLYMPIC TRUCE DURING SALT LAKE CITY WINTER GAMES

Following is the message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for observance of the Olympic Truce:

The Olympic Movement and the United Nations share fundamental ideals: tolerance and understanding; equal opportunities and fair play; and, most of all, peace. In a world growing ever closer and more interconnected, and yet still riven by brutal conflict, dire poverty and cruel injustice, it is more important than ever that we all join forces to give life to those ideals.

One way we can do that is to observe the Olympic Truce - the call for warring parties to lay down their arms while athletes from the community of nations meet under the noble flame of the Olympic torch. While limited in duration and scope, the Olympic Truce can offer a neutral point of consensus, a window of time to open a dialogue, a pause to provide relief to a suffering population. Over the years, a great deal of support has been voiced worldwide for the concept of the Truce. The challenge before us is to ensure that it has as many practitioners as it has supporters on paper.

The United Nations General Assembly has called for observance of the Olympic Truce during the XlXth Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Today, I join the Assembly in urging that athletes participating in the Games be afforded safe passage, and that all engaged in hostilities respect the Truce. For these next few weeks, may the serenity of the Olympic flame silence the sound of gunfire.

http://wwv.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/sgsm8110.doc.htm 30/09/2002