I
take great pleasure in congratulating Mr. Ali
Abdussalam Treki on his assumption of the presidency
of the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session.
Sri Lanka extends its fullest cooperation to him so that
we can effectively conclude the work before us.
Significant developments have taken place in
Sri Lanka since my President, Mahinda Rajapaksa,
addressed the sixty-third session of the General
Assembly last year (see A/63/PV.7). This year I take
the floor with renewed hope and optimism for my
country.
In May 2009, Sri Lanka was successful in
defeating the scourge of brutal terrorism after almost
three decades of conflict inflicted on us by the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), one of the
most ruthless terrorist organizations known to the
international community. Our recent anti-terrorist
operations cost us only $2.8 billion in all, compared
with other anti-terrorist operations elsewhere which are
costing much more than that.
In an age when the international community has
collectively acknowledged that terrorism threatens the
very foundations of global and national security, our
success in defeating terrorism will benefit, not only the
people of Sri Lanka, but all our peace-loving partners
in the international community.
Today, we have entered a forward-looking, post-
conflict phase, recognizing at the same time the urgent
need to deal with the scars and unresolved challenges
of the past. In our unique victory in defeating
terrorism, we are grateful for the assistance,
encouragement and cooperation extended to us by
friendly countries and we seek similar understanding in
making a steady and stable transition from ending
conflict to ensuring lasting peace and security.
We have shared our hopes and concerns with the
United Nations. At the end of the conflict and at the
invitation of my President, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was the first high-
level dignitary to visit Sri Lanka.
With the defeat of the terrorists in May this year,
approximately 290,000 civilians in the Vanni region
were liberated from their decades-long subjugation.
One of our highest priorities thereafter has been to
meet the immediate humanitarian needs of these
displaced civilians and to ensure their long-term, safe,
voluntary and dignified return to their homes.
At present, the welfare of our people in
temporary transit sites must keep up with standards
that meet our own high expectations as well as
accepted international norms. This task has been
facilitated by the assistance we receive from United
Nations agencies, international and local civil society
partners and donors. More than 54 agencies are
actively engaged with us in these welfare villages. In
addition to providing food and transitional shelter, the
welfare villages are equipped with facilities, such as
schools, banks, post offices, and health-care centres, to
meet the needs of the displaced civilians. In fact,
children whose education had been denied them by the
terrorists are now for the first time learning to read and
write at these sites.
The Government reiterates its firm resolve to
resettle the internally displaced persons expeditiously,
in cooperation with our international partners. In that
regard, we have learned valuable lessons from our own
past experiences. In both the post-tsunami context and
the successful resettlement programmes in the east of
the country completed in the past two years, we
realized that the pace of resettlement must not be
forced, if it is to be truly safe and sustainable in the
long term. For example, against all established
humanitarian norms, the terrorist insurgents had
indiscriminately scattered landmines and other
explosives in every area of civilian habitation in the
North. The time-consuming and meticulous process of
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demining is now under way. From another perspective,
the stability and security that we have restored at great
human cost cannot, and must not, be compromised,
particularly when a large number of self-confessed
ex-terrorist cadres continue to mix with internally
displaced persons.
In the aftermath of conflict, peace cannot last
without reconciliation. We have put in place a broad
and comprehensive foundation for long-term peace and
security encompassing reconstruction, development,
political empowerment and reconciliation. Sri Lanka is
committed to complying with its international
obligations in the field of human rights and
humanitarian standards, and will undertake further
domestic measures aimed at reconciliation in the light
of lessons learned. In less than three months since the
conflict in August, we have made significant progress.
For the first time in more than a decade, local-
government elections were held in the north
completely free of any violence and intimidation. In
every area where the terrorists had suppressed all
dissent in the past, democracy will be restored and
electoral processes will be re-established, encouraging
a local leadership to emerge.
We must enable those scarred by the conflict to
lead productive lives and resume their roles as
neighbours and productive citizens. Children were
forced into combat by the terrorists’ abhorrent practice
of using them as fighting cadres. President Mahinda
Rajapaksa has personally launched a national campaign
entitled “Bring Back the Child”, and an extensive
rehabilitation programme is under way to provide new
beginnings for former child combatants. In cooperation
with United Nations agencies and donors, we have put
in place a national framework for the reintegration of
ex-combatants.
With the end of conflict, and for the first time in
many decades, Sri Lanka is poised to harness the full
human, political and economic potential of the country
for the betterment of our people. Donors, international
organizations and financial institutions have expressed
their confidence in our reconstruction and development
plans by making important contributions. After a lapse
of many years, the Eastern province has already begun
to contribute to the national economy under the Eastern
Re-awakening Programme. The Waddakin Wasantham
Programme was initiated by President Rajapaksa this
year to establish a strong and modern economy in the
Northern province. Civilian lives are being normalized
with the restoration of former livelihoods, such as
farming and fisheries. Already people and produce
from the north and east of the country are being
transported via previously inaccessible road and rail
networks, facilitating people-to-people contact and
integrating the economy of the north with that of the
rest of the country. Police stations, courts, schools and
infrastructure are being re-established.
The end of conflict provides us with a historic
opportunity to address the grievances and aspirations
of all communities in expediting a long-term political
solution. Under the All-Party Representative
Committee process, the Government looks forward
with a high degree of confidence to obtaining a
consensus among all sections of the political spectrum
on the proposals envisaged in this regard. The solution
that evolves through this process, which we will offer
to all communities, must be a home-grown product.
Complementary to the long-term political solution
envisaged through the All-Party Representative
Committee process, an All-Party Committee of
Development and Reconciliation has been initiated by
President Rajapaksa. That forum reflects the
Government’s commitment to a pluralistic and
inclusive approach to addressing post-conflict
challenges.
The theme of this year’s debate is “Effective
responses to global crises — strengthening
multilateralism and dialogue among civilizations for
international peace, security and development”. The
multilateral architecture of the United Nations was
created 64 years ago to provide a collective response to
global issues in order to achieve peace, security and
development. As a result of a multitude of factors,
including the accelerated globalization of recent
decades, the challenges we are confronted with today
are complex and intertwined, and require a holistic,
concerted and collective approach.
An individual State alone cannot meet these
challenges. Thus multilateralism must be strengthened
to meet contemporary global crises such as terrorism,
the global financial crisis, the adverse consequences of
climate change, food and energy security as well as the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
We need to take necessary measures to ensure that the
impact of globalization is fair, inclusive and
sustainable. Multilateralism is not about the United
Nations agenda responding only to the demands of a
minority of powerful States, but also about defending
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the interests of the powerless majority. And it is
imperative that the principle reflected in Article 2,
paragraph 7, of the Charter — that the Organization
should not interfere in the internal affairs of States —
be respected. The Charter must be our guiding norm,
for it is the Charter that keeps us together.
Non-interference in the internal affairs of States must
be respected at all times.
In our own region, the South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which Sri Lanka
chairs at present, has lent its voice to several issues of
global importance affecting our region. Among these,
terrorism, the impact of the global economic crisis and
climate change, as well as food security, are of prime
concern to the one fifth of humanity who live in
SAARC nations. We in the SAARC region will
continue to work in every international forum,
including the United Nations, to find regional as well
as global solutions that can deal with these issues in an
equitable manner.
A global problem such as terrorism, with its
transnational linkages, requires an effective and
compelling global response. As our experience in Sri
Lanka has shown, the transnational character of
criminal activities of terrorist groups such as the LTTE
required that counter-terrorism operations meticulously
carried out on the battlefield be supported by concerted
and well-coordinated measures of international
cooperation directed against the multifaceted criminal
networks of the terrorist organizations.
Mrs. Aitimova (Kazakhstan), Vice-President, took
the Chair.
We are aware that much of the financial
sustenance for the destruction caused in Sri Lanka by
the LTTE came from sources overseas, particularly
deep-rooted networks in developed countries. The
so-called overseas representatives of the LTTE and
their front organizations procured funds and arms
through a complex range of criminal activities: terrorist
financing, money-laundering, arms procurement, illicit
trade and other organized criminal activities, such as
drug trafficking and human trafficking, all of which are
interrelated.
The remnants of the fast-diminishing LTTE
networks overseas continue those efforts to date.
Although we have been successful in defeating
terrorism in Sri Lanka, we continue to urge our friends
and partners in the international community to be
vigilant and to continue taking action against illegal
acts of the LTTE on their soil.
We are well aware that some of the front
organizations exploit noble humanitarian sentiments,
and masquerade in the guise of humanitarian
non-governmental organizations or even infiltrate
them. We thank our partners in the international
community that have taken action to expose those
organizations.
The threat posed to maritime security through the
transportation of large consignments of sophisticated
equipment and lethal cargo to provide logistical
support to terrorist groups requires our urgent
attention. In recent years, Sri Lanka has experienced
the most unprecedented and dangerous forms of
maritime terrorism. Our navy has successfully
confronted and interdicted the movement of virtual
floating warehouses of arms and ammunition, which
posed a grave threat to the security and stability of our
nation and our region.
At the global level, this phenomenon calls for a
revision of existing laws pertaining to boarding and
searching vessels on the high seas. We need a
comprehensive legal framework to address all aspects
of the safety and security of maritime navigation, going
beyond the current concerns about weapons of mass
destruction. That would make a distinct contribution to
securing global peace and security.
The comprehensive range of terrorist activities
and their disastrous impact on the security and stability
of States should awaken all States to consider, very
seriously and as a matter of urgency, the importance of
forging a global consensus on a comprehensive
normative framework for international cooperation and
solidarity in combating terrorism, within the
parameters of international law.
In this context, I wish to emphasize the urgent
need to finalize the ongoing negotiations on the draft
comprehensive convention on terrorism. The time has
come to reach finality on the outstanding issues and,
through the exertion of the necessary political will, to
adopt the Convention without further delay.
Sri Lanka, as Chairman of the United Nations Ad
Hoc Committee on International Terrorism, remains
committed to doing its utmost to reach consensus on
the draft comprehensive convention, and looks forward
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to the fullest support of all Member States in this
important task.
Today we face the greatest challenge to the world
economy in modern times. The global financial and
economic crisis, which had its roots in the developed
countries, will have a long-term impact on human lives
in developing countries. Through the pursuit of prudent
policies, Sri Lanka has been able to minimize the
impact of the crisis on the domestic financial system
and maintain an overall positive rate of growth in the
midst of the crisis.
Recovery from the crisis should go well beyond
restoring the stability of the economies of the
developed countries, and must address the deeper
development crisis which ensued in developing
countries. The plan of action adopted at the United
Nations Conference on the World Financial and
Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development
urgently needs to be implemented with the support of
the international financial institutions and advanced
economies. The global financial and economic crisis
also highlights the need for transparent multilateral
regulatory structures at the helm of the world economy.
The Millennium Declaration set 2015 as the
target date for achieving the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), and we are already nearing the target
date. Long before the MDGs were articulated globally,
Sri Lanka was well on track to reach the related targets
in several areas.
Development as it is understood today, and as
embodied in the internationally agreed development
goals and MDGs, encompasses objectives related to
human well-being, including freedom, empowerment,
distribution patterns and environmental sustainability.
This broad dimension is aligned with Sri Lanka’s
pluralistic democratic traditions. Sri Lanka was early
among developing countries to understand the
importance of investing in human resources, of gender
equality and of social development. We are determined
to make further progress. We welcome the high-level
meeting to be convened by the Secretary-General next
year.
As a developing island State, Sri Lanka is highly
vulnerable to the adverse impact of climate change
caused by unsustainable production and consumption
patterns of industrialized countries. The carbon debt
owed to us by the developed countries must be used to
finance the financial and technological assistance that
we need in order to adapt our industries to a
sustainable path. As the people of a developing
country, our population naturally aspires to achieve
progress and higher living standards. We hope that we
can reach an agreed outcome at the Copenhagen
Conference, in accordance with the principle of
common, but differentiated, responsibilities.
Reform of the United Nations and the Security
Council must be a high priority. My delegation
believes that the objectives of the reform process
should be to strengthen multilateralism and to promote
greater democracy, transparency, effectiveness and
accountability within a more democratic United
Nations system. And, in tandem, we need to take
measures to pursue the four pillars that are
fundamental to our future, as enunciated by President
Obama.
My delegation believes that the United Nations —
particularly the Assembly — has primary responsibility,
as set out in the Charter, for the maintenance of
international peace and security. In this context, the
numerous unresolved conflicts around the world
continue to be a matter of concern.
We are disappointed that little progress has been
made in the implementation of General Assembly
resolutions regarding the inalienable rights of the
Palestinian people to statehood and the realization of
the two-State solution, whereby Israel and Palestine
could live side-by-side in peace and harmony. A just
and lasting peace in the Middle East, including through
practical recognition of the inalienable rights of the
Palestinian people, has been strongly advocated by
President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In this regard, we are
encouraged by the words spoken by President Obama
in his address to the Assembly.
Mr. Treki is presiding over the work of the
Assembly at a critical time. As Member States, we
must mobilize the political will to shed our differences
and work in a spirit of cooperation to respond
effectively and swiftly to the challenges that confront
us. I reiterate my delegation’s confidence in President
Treki’s leadership in this endeavour.