Harpenden UNA Newsletter
UNA Public Meeting, 19th November, 11am
Caroline Hurford gave us an excellent talk last December about the work of the World Food Programme (WFP). She has recently visited the Horn of Africa to assess the refugee situation there and how WFP and UNHCR work together. She returns to us on 19th November to speak about the 'Response of the UN to the crisis in the Horn of Africa'.
Annual Service for United Nations Day
The service was very well attended and £312 was collected to support the work funded by the UNA Trust through which our organisation contributes to Bishop Alan’s theme of ‘building a better world’. Many thanks to all those involved.
Flag Day Collection, October
We collected £516.62 during this year's Flag Day collection for UNICEF and the UNA Trust. Many thanks to all those who participated and to Wolf Hamm who organised the collection.
Olympic truce
The Branch’s Chairman, Trevor Evans, has written an article about the Olympic Truce for the UNA website. In case you do not read it there, his article is attached for interest.
Olympic Truce 2012AD
In 776 BC, myth has it that King Ifitos of Elis was advised by the oracle of Delphi to break the cycle of conflict between states every four years by replacing war with friendly athletic competition. Ifitos proposed a truce called ‘Ekecheria’ and organised the first Olympic Games at Olympia. Fighting ceased for seven days before and seven days after the Games. It was through these early games that the ancient tradition of the Olympic Truce was born - a truly remarkable and effective truce, respected during 1200 years of ancient history.
When the modern Olympic Games were established in 1894 the principles of Olympism were incorporated into an Olympic Charter, including respect for ethical principles and promotion of a peaceful society. In October 1993 the 36th plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which committed member states to promote an Olympic Truce at the 1994 winter games, which resulted in a truce in war torn Sarajevo. Similar resolutions have been passed at subsequent summer and winter Games but sadly they have not resulted in many beneficial outcomes. In 2000 the International Olympic Committee established the International Olympic Truce Foundation (www.olympictruce.org) with the goal of reviving the ancient tradition of the Olympic Truce, but still the achievements of truce resolutions have been very limited.
On 17th October 2011 Lord Coe on behalf of the UK government, as host nation, proposed the Olympic Truce resolution at the United Nations General Assembly. Prompted by the Conservative peer, Lord Bates, David Cameron has committed the government to promoting initiatives to implement the truce. Lord Bates is walking nearly 4000 miles (from ancient Olympia to London) in the hope that all the signatories to the Truce can be persuaded to do at least one thing to implement it. Individuals who want to support this campaign can go to www.walkfortruce.org.
If we are to make the most of this opportunity we need to be taking actions now to promote peacemaking in conflict areas around the world. The government appears to be open to suggestions about how this might be done and organisations with experience in this field should take advantage of this opportunity. In October 2010 this issue was debated in the House of Lords and our then Chairman, Lord Hannay, proposed that these objectives would be best promoted by putting more resources into conflict prevention to promote not just a truce but lasting peace. In his subsequent letter to the Minister of State he said that ‘UNA-UK hopes that the government will consider the inclusion of some practical ways of improving the UN’s capacity for preventing conflict’. Other organisations in the UK are supporting this campaign, like the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster with its campaign for ‘Building Peace with the 2012 Games’.
At the 2011 UNA policy conference in Cardiff we agreed to urge the government to commit more resources to peace building and conflict prevention and encouraged UNA members to promote the Truce. The Olympic Truce needs to be promoted by international bodies, governments and by ordinary people all over the world. Even in the UK we have experienced violence on our streets in recent months so actions to promote peace are required here as well as in other countries. As well as talking to government, UNA-UK is also promoting two events for young people in association with the Olympic Games. There will be a national MUNGA and a poetry competition using the Olympic Truce as a theme and UNA Westminster is planning events at Alexandra Place and Central Hall Westminster in July next year. I hope that UNA members will lobby their MPs for government action and encourage support for these events in the hope that we can create a legacy for the 2012 Games that we can be really proud of.
Trevor Evans
UNA Board member
Chair of Harpenden UNA
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