1. Proposal Walk for the Olympic Truceby
Michael & Xuelin Bates
February 2016

2. Index Front cover Index
Introduction—Lady Bates, Walk for Peace Foundation
What is the Olympic Truce?
How has it been implemented in the past?
Aims of Walk for Truce Rio 2016
Map Walk for Truce Rio 2016
Walk for Truce London 2012—route
Walk for Truce London 2012—images
Walk for Syria’s Children 2013—route
Walk for Syria’s Children 2013—images
Walk for Peace 2014—route
Walk for Peace 2014—images
Walk for Peace 2015—route
Walk for Peace 2015—images
Biography—Lord Bates
Quotes about Lord Bates’ Walks
Contact
Index

3. Introduction by Xuelin, Lady Bates, Chair of the Walk for Peace Foundation
The Olympic Truce has been an inspiration in our lives: I first met Michael through his 4693 km solo Walk for Truce in from Olympia in Greece. I had been fortunate in having a successful career in business. I was intrigued and then inspired by Michael who despite having a senior role in the British parliament
was prepared to give it all up for the dream of one day seeing this UN Resolution implemented in a meaningful way around the world during the Olympic & Paralympic Games. We married on the day that the London 2012 Olympic Truce came into effect (20 July 2012) and on that same day established the Walk for Peace Foundation to carry on the work started in London 2012
Since then Michael has undertaken three further walks 2013/2014 &2015 covering 4236 km which have raised over £200,000 for charities such as Save the Children and the Red Cross who are alleviating suffering and bringing hope especially to children and young people around the world. All our walks are self-funded so that all donations can go to the causes that were intended.
In 2016 we will return to the Olympic Truce for Rio 2016 and seek to draw attention to this ancient inspiring ideal and ask how it can be applied in the modern world. We will also raise funds for UNICEF. The final plans are not fully confirmed but we wanted to share them with you at this early stage to benefit from your feedback and perhaps, as the walk commences, your support also. Thank you.

4. Co-sponsored by 180 countries
The Rio 2016 United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/70/L.3
Co-sponsored by 180 countries
The resolution calls upon all Member States of the UN to: ‘take concrete actions at local, national, regional and international levels to promote and strengthen the culture of peace based on the spirit of the Olympic Truce’ and ‘to use sport as a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the period of the Olympic & Paralympic Games.’
Charles Whitely, representative of the European Union said: “With violent extremism increasing, the ideal of the Olympic Truce could serve as an historical example of reconciliation and peaceful co-existence, even for a short period of time.”
Carlos Arthur Nuzman, President of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee said: “Peace is the only fair future for humanity….our aim is to create a lasting legacy of peace for young people.”
“The Olympic Truce wasn’t just part of the Ancient Olympic Games, it was the entire point of the Ancient Olympic Games” Lord Bates

5. Nice Idea or Great Ideal? The Olympic Truce in Practice
In 1992 the International Olympic Committee revived the ideal of the ancient Olympic Truce in 1993 the 48th Session of the UN General Assembly co-sponsored the Olympic Truce resolution for the first time for the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
In 1994 as a savage war raged in Bosnia and in the former Winter Olympic City of Sarajevo IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch used his opening ceremony speech to urge all sides to respect the truce declaring, “Please stop the fighting. Stop the killing. Drop your guns!” It worked and UNICEF were able to use the ceasefire to inoculate thousands of children in the besieged city.
In 2000 during the opening ceremony of the Games the South and North Korean delegations paraded into the stadium together under the same flag.
In 2016 at a time of a great refugee crisis the International Olympic Committee and the UNHCR have set up a $2 million fund to allow qualified athletes without a home country to compete under the Olympic flag and be welcomed by the Olympic anthem.
What more could be done to mark the 2016 Rio Olympic & Paralympic Truce?

6. Aims To raise awareness for the Rio 2016 Olympic truce
For each co-sponsor of the UN 2016 Truce Resolution to do at least one thing to implement or observe it
To raise at least £250,000 for Unicef’s work with Syrian Refugees
To encourage the UK and Argentinian governments to host the First UK-Argentina Year of Cultural Exchange
To promote calls for a ‘Lillehammer/Sarajevo’ style ceasefire in conflict zones surround the Rio Olympic & Paralympic Games
To promote friendship through sport in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay & Brazil
To connect the Olympic cities of Buenos Aries (2018) and Rio de Janeiro (2016) through the Olympic truce

7. 2016 Walk for Truce Raise funds for UNICEF work with Syrian refugees
Start: 6 April
(UN International Day of Peace & Development Through Sport)
Buenos Aries, Argentina
Finish: 22 August
(Closing date Olympics)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Distance 2824 km (1750 miles)
Duration 150 days
4 countries: Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil
Raise funds for UNICEF work with Syrian refugees
“sport is not only entertainment, above all, it is an instrument to communicate values, promote the good of the human person, and contribute to the building of a more peaceful and fraternal society” Pope Francis

8. 2012 London Olympic Truce Walk
Started: 22 April 2011
(Good Friday)
Olympia, Greece
Finished: 15 February 2012, London, UK
Organised truce-walks for the truce in Tirana, Albania; Split, Croatia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Rome and Milan, Italy; Paris, France and London, England
km ( miles)
300 days
12 countries
“Sport is the only area of human existence that has achieved universal law”
Thomas Bach, President of the IOC

10. 2013 Walk for Syria’s Children
Started: July 27, London, UK
—1st Anniversary of the start of the London Games
Finished: September 9
On the Peace Bridge between the two communities of London/Derry
834.9 km (518.8 miles)
35 days
Walked through Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
£50,000 raised for Save the Children’s work in Syria
“Peace and stability are essential for people to reach their true potential. The Olympic Truce is based on that yearning, and on ideals shared by the UN and the Olympic movement alike” UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon

11. 2013

12. 2014 Walk for Peace - Berlin 1697.5 km (1054.8 mile) 54 days
Started on August 4
(100 anniversary of the start of WWI)
km ( mile)
Walked across battlefields of WWI, including site of Christmas Truce 1914 and across the former border between East and West Germany
54 days
5 countries
£41,000
raised for German charity Friedensdhorf International who provide emergency medical care for child victims of war and conflict from their centre in Oberhausen
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Albert Camus

13. 2014

14. 2015 Walk for Peace - China 1704 km (1059.1 miles) 71 days 6 Provinces
Start: 27 July
(3rd Anniversary of London 2012 Games)
Beijing, China
Finished: 3 October
Hangzhou, China
1704 km ( miles)
71 days
6 Provinces
£90,000
raised for projects identified by the Red Cross in China including Hope House, Pizhou which produced 12 gold and 2 silver medallists at the London 2012 Paralympics
‘Better to light a small candle than curse the darkness’
Chinese Proverb

15. 2015

16. About Michael Bates Born in Gateshead, England in 1961 (age 54)
Campaigned for the observance of the Olympic truce since 2008
Graduate of the University of Oxford
Career in economic and political research with Oxford Analytica
Former elected member of the House of Commons, UK parliament ( )
Appointed member of the House of Lords, UK parliament 2008-
Government minister:
(inc. Paymaster General in the Cabinet Office) &
(currently Minister of State, Home Office)
Appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2015
Recipient of the ‘Open Fields’ Award of the Truce Foundation 2012

17. Quotes about Michael and his walks for peace
“The whole House will wish to congratulate Lord Bates on his great feat….The Olympic truce is an historic opportunity” (Rt Hon David Cameron, Prime Minister—House of Commons 29 June, 2011) “Lord Bates has made a valuable contribution to implementing the Truce values and concept, and to leading by example in showing that passionate and committed individuals can make a valuable contribution to world peace” (Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations—Geneva 17 October, 2011) “The Olympic Truce is an extension of the Olympic values, and, through his initiative, Lord Bates is setting a fine example of what it means to live by the Olympic values every day.” (Count Jacques Rogge, then President of the International Committee—Lausanne 15 November, 2011) “[In an example of friendship between our two countries] Lord Bates walked in China under the scorching sun for 1700km and he called on people to cherish peace.” (President Xi Jinping, President of China address to joint Houses of Parliament 20 October, 2015)

18. Contact Lady (Xuelin) Bates Tel: +44 (0) 7753 686588
Rt Hon Lord (Michael) Bates
House of Lords
London
SW1A 2EP
Tel: +44 (0)
Web:
Lady (Xuelin) Bates
Tel: +44 (0)