Sri Lanka, 2005

I extend to you, Sir,

our warmest congratulations as you assume the high

office of the President of the General Assembly at its

sixtieth session. We wish you all the best and assure

you of Sri Lankaís support and cooperation in your

work. I convey gratitude to Mr. Jean Ping for his astute

leadership of the fifty-ninth session.

This sixtieth landmark session of the General

Assembly is doubly significant for Sri Lanka, as this

year we mark the fiftieth anniversary of our

membership in the United Nations. As a small nation

that has kept the flame of democracy burning through

many tribulations, we take modest pride in the fact that

what we said at the first session of the General

Assembly we addressed can still be recalled with

undiminished relevance. Prime Minister Bandaranaike,

representing Sri Lanka, said on that occasion:

"This is an Organization which expresses itself

most effectively by bringing to bear a certain

moral force - the collective moral force and

decency of human beings. That is a task in which

the weak as well as the strong can render a useful

service, and I give the Assembly the assurance,

on behalf of my country, that as far as we are

concerned, every endeavour that we can make in

all sincerity to assist in the achievements of those

noble ideals for which this Organization stands

will always be forthcoming in the fullest

measure." (Official Records of the General

Assembly, Eleventh Session, Plenary Meetings,

590th meeting, para. 42)

Five decades on, I have the pleasure to say that

my country has kept that promise by regularly

contributing to consensus-building in the Organization

in areas ranging from the law of the sea to

disarmament and from human rights to the issue of

terrorism. We remain fully committed to the United

Nations.

We continue to believe that the collective moral

force of this Organization is indispensable for a secure,

peaceful and humane world. We are convinced that

such a world can be realized through the honest

commitment of every Member State to its individual

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and collective responsibilities. Our peoples live in the

hope and expectation that we shall deliver.

On the morning of 26 December 2004, Sri Lanka

and several other countries around the Indian Ocean

region woke up to a natural disaster of unprecedented

magnitude. Towering tsunami waves struck two thirds

of the coastal areas of our island nation, leaving in its

wake death and destruction on a scale hitherto

unknown by the world. Moved by the enormous scale

of that calamity, Governments, the United Nations and

other international organizations, civil society

organizations and countless well-wishers across the

world rushed to help my country and its people to

recover, rehabilitate and rebuild. It was a magnificent

gesture of human solidarity. Citizens of the world

reached out beyond the confines of geopolitical and

other man-made barriers in one magnificent gesture of

human generosity. That rekindled in us new confidence

in the power of peoples acting in unison across the

world to move Governments to act in the best interests

of humankind for a new and better world.

On behalf of my people and my Government, I

wish to convey my profound appreciation and gratitude

to all those who assisted and sympathized with us and

contributed generously to rebuild our country. Let me

take this opportunity to extend a special word of thanks

to President Clinton, the United Nations Special Envoy

for Tsunami Recovery, for his commitment and

leadership in coordinating the ongoing international

effort for sustainable recovery.

Just as my country was in national distress in the

aftermath of the tsunami disaster, we are now in

distress in the face of an ominous renewal of terror on

our soil. One month ago, my dear colleague Lakshman

Kadirgamar, the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, was

assassinated by a calculated and barbaric act of

terrorism. One more hero who fought relentlessly for

freedom and justice has been felled by the enemies of

peace and unity. As Foreign Minister, the late

Mr. Kadirgamar argued powerfully and worked

tirelessly against extremist racist ideologies that

employ violence to gain their divisive objectives. He

was bold enough to expose to the world the true face of

terrorism inflicted upon my country. For 11 long years,

from this very podium, Mr. Kadirgamar warned the

Assembly about the threat posed by terrorism to the

democratic way of life, not only in Sri Lanka but

across the world.

For over two decades, Sri Lanka has been under

sustained assault by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil

Eelam (LTTE), an armed group that employs brutal

methods and suicide bombings in its campaign of terror

to obtain a separate State. Disregarding the

implementation of the ceasefire agreement, that group

continues to engage in numerous illegal and terrorist

activities. Those include the conscription of children as

soldiers - in callous disregard for promises given to

many, including the Special Representative of the

Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict -

and the assassination of democratic opponents, as part

of their policy of eliminating Tamil political leaders

and human rights activists, with disdain for all

international law and practice and despite sustained

efforts by my Government and Norwegian facilitators.

I tend to doubt that the Security Councilís recent

identification of that group in connection with child

conscription would suffice to deter such activities.

Targeted sanctions such as those proposed by

Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his report to the

Security Council should be imposed on those armed

groups that undermine national and international peace

and violate human rights.

I firmly believe that terrorism cannot be

eliminated through military suppression by State

machinery. The socio-economic and cultural roots of a

conflict must be sought and effectively redressed. We

recognize that a lasting solution to ethnic issues and to

terrorism in my country, or anywhere else, can only be

found through negotiation and dialogue. Accordingly,

my Government was the first, in 1994, to offer a

negotiated settlement in place of an armed conflict, as

well as an extensive devolution of power instead of a

separate State. In February 2002, the Government

entered into a ceasefire agreement with the rebel group

and began talks, with the facilitation of the

Government of Norway.

However, two and a half years ago, the LTTE

walked away from the peace talks for the sixth time in

18 years. All efforts to have the talks renewed have so

far failed. As a measure of good will after the tsunami

disaster struck us, I agreed to an arrangement with the

rebels for joint action in tsunami reconstruction work.

That was yet another measure in a long series of efforts

to engage and work with the rebels, particularly in

humanitarian ventures, despite their obdurate

insistence to remain armed and remain uncontested by

any other democratic Tamil political party.

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My Government has reaffirmed its commitment

to the ceasefire and the peace talks. We continue to do

all that is required by a democratic Government to

ensure that we do not return to armed conflict,

fulfilling the wishes of all our people.

A peace process cannot, and does not, operate in

a vacuum. People demand that a process of peace

should include the commitment and good conduct of

all parties to a conflict. When a belligerent group - a

non-State actor - exploits the unique position offered

to it by a peace process to utilize the freedom

guaranteed under a democratic system of governance to

strengthen itself through infiltration and the coercion

of civilians, organizations and political parties, that

impinges seriously on the ability of an elected

Government to move forward effectively in its efforts

at reconciliation and peace.

The restoration of democracy, the creation of

space for dissent and the promotion of human rights in

the affected areas in the north and the east of our

country are now essential prerequisites for a successful

and meaningful peace process in Sri Lanka. A lasting

political solution can come to fruition only when the

rebel group becomes a democratic civilian

organization. That deserves the fullest support of the

international community.

As we have been for many long years, Sri Lanka

remains firmly committed to the global endeavour to

fight terrorism in all its aspects. No cause justifies the

indiscriminate unleashing of terror upon the innocent.

Sri Lanka has accordingly signed and ratified all

United Nations conventions aimed at combating

terrorism. We earnestly hope that at this session it will

be possible to conclude work on the comprehensive

convention on international terrorism, in order to

complete and strengthen the international legal

framework to combat terrorism through collective

measures. Sri Lanka will continue to provide its

contribution to facilitate a consensus in its capacity as

Chair of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on this

subject.

Sri Lanka has pledged to meet the United Nations

Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015. We

have already achieved the targeted goals in primary

education and in infant and maternal mortality. We are

committed to further promoting the political and

economic empowerment of women so that gender

equality becomes a matter of human rights and social

justice.

Our National Child Protection Authority

implements many programmes to eliminate abuse and

violence against children and to ensure their protection

as well as their right to freely enjoy life's most

precious gift, childhood. Our success is due to the

outcome of sustained efforts in policy planning and

implementation.

Those benchmarks and other indicators

manifesting the high physical quality of life enjoyed by

our people will be further elevated as we strive to meet

the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. However,

poverty remains a major challenge for us. To eradicate

this scourge, we are now taking further steps through

the adoption of economic and social programmes, in

cooperation with our bilateral and multilateral

development partners.

If we look at the current world health situation,

although smallpox has been eradicated and polio is on

the verge of being eliminated, there are other

diseases ó often associated with poverty - that

continue to take a heavy human toll, especially in

developing countries. Every year, 6 million children

die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. More

than 50 per cent of people in Africa suffer from water-

related diseases such as cholera. HIV/AIDS kills 6,000

people every day. Each year, more than 300 million

people are infected with malaria. New challenges, such

as severe acute respiratory syndrome and avian

influenza, indicate that national borders offer little

protection against such proliferating pandemics. In the

face of unparalleled advances, both in technology and

in human mobility, it is unconscionable to let some in

our nations suffer from diseases that can be controlled,

if not eliminated.

In my view, there are three evils plaguing our

world today that can have no place in the modern

globalizing era of the twenty-first century: poverty,

disease and terrorism. Today, these evils affect the

social, cultural and economic well-being of a majority

of humankind. No country can deal with them on its

own. International cooperation is in our self-interest

and needs to be mustered. We share the strong belief

that the United Nations, on the occasion of its sixtieth

anniversary, should seriously undertake comprehensive

reforms so that the Organization is fully equipped to

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meet new challenges, taking into account the current

global realities.

We acknowledge with appreciation the valuable

contribution made by the Secretary-General and his

team to the ongoing reform process, which made

possible the adoption of the outcome document

(resolution 60/1) at the recent summit of the

Organization. We urge all Member States to work

together to build on that framework in order to

operationalize what has been agreed and to work

further on what remains to be achieved.

Recovery after the tsunami disaster taught us the

value and potential of humanity acting in unison when

fellow human beings are in distress. We now hope that

the same human spirit and common interests will

continue to prevail in addressing the socio-economic

and security challenges we face. Let us resolve to

commit ourselves collectively, on this solemn occasion

of the sixtieth anniversary of the Organization, to act

together in the interest of humankind in order that we

may strive to eliminate the three scourges of poverty,

disease and terrorism.