Sri Lanka, 2007

I am pleased to be able

to address the global community on the first day of the

current session of the General Assembly of the United

Nations.

Please accept my congratulations, Sir, on your

assumption of the high office of the President of the

sixty-second session. To Sheikha Haya Rashed

Al-Khalifa, I wish to convey Sri Lanka’s gratitude for

her astute leadership of the sixty-first session.

Sri Lanka can boast of a very old and advanced

civilization, similar to Greek, Roman and Nile Valley

civilizations. One of the important characteristics of

our civilization is the use of living languages such as

Sinhala and Tamil, two languages used by many even

today. I therefore consider it my obligation to use

Sinhala, a living language, to address the General

Assembly.

Let me begin by quoting the immortal words of

Sir Isaac Newton: “We build too many walls and not

enough bridges”. We all became Members of an

Organization that was created to let all our voices be

heard and to avoid an approach aimed at resolving

problems through violence, revenge and blame. Yet we

see a trend to find fault, to place countries in the dock

and penalize those who do not fall into line. Instead of

seeking solutions through cooperation, we have often

created suspicion and built walls between ourselves

through double standards.

I am proud to inform the Assembly that, despite

the significant challenge posed by the ongoing conflict

with a ruthless terrorist group in the north of our

country, we have freed the Eastern Province from

terrorism and restored law and order there. My

Government has already launched a massive

programme of rehabilitation and reconstruction in the

east. We propose to make the Eastern Province of Sri

Lanka a model for development and rehabilitation,

essentially through our own effort but also with the

assistance of all donors. We are taking steps to return

the usurped rights of the people by conducting

provincial and local Government elections in the east

early next year. There is a clear opportunity for the

international community to play a vital role in breaking

the cycle of conflict by focusing on development.

We launched military operations only to exert

pressure on terrorists in order to convince them that it

would not be possible for them to obtain a military

victory. Our goal remains a negotiated and honourable

end to this unfortunate conflict. I must say that the All

Party Representative Committee is working

successfully towards it.

Sri Lanka was one of the first developing

countries to promote universal health and education,

gender equality and social mobilization. We have been

able to achieve exceptional socio-economic

indicators way ahead of those normally expected of

a country in the lower-middle income range and are

on the way to achieving or surpassing many of the

Millennium Development Goals. It is a beautiful sight

on our rural roads to see thousands of children in clean

white uniforms heading for school. It is a fine example

of our success in achieving education for all.

Despite 25 years of brutal terrorism, we have

been able to continue with this social development. My

Government maintains a policy of openness and

cooperation with all international human rights

mechanisms, and a number of high-level officials have

visited Sri Lanka recently. Sri Lanka’s ancient

civilization was rooted in the Buddhist principles of

metta and ahimsa metta being loving kindness to all

living beings and ahimsa being a deep respect for life.

Human rights have been an essential part of our great

cultural tradition for millennia. It is therefore nothing

new for us to protect human rights. Women in

pre-colonial Sri Lanka enjoyed rights that are

prescribed under the Convention on the Elimination of

All Forms of Discrimination against Women

including rights of property ownership and inheritance

rights. It was certainly no accident that Sri Lanka

produced the first democratically elected woman Prime

Minister in the world in 1960.

Guided by the principles of Buddhism, we have

long respected the rights of our fellow human beings. It

has therefore not been necessary for us to experience

global wars or the deaths of millions to learn to

recognize their value. My country has no record of

inflicting misery on fellow human beings for the

purpose of empire-building, for commercial advantage

or for religious righteousness. Sri Lanka, as one of the

founding members of the Human Rights Council,

believes that human rights are too important to be used

as a tool to victimize States for political advantage. It

is essential that international action to facilitate

compliance with human rights standards be fair and

even-handed. Human rights have to be protected and

advanced for their own sake, not for political gain.

Even as we are gathered here, State sovereignty,

civil society and the rule of law are increasingly being

threatened by terrorism and other illegal and illicit

activities in many countries. We need to be vigilant

about these activities. Although the United Nations

system has set up mechanisms to deal with many of

these problems, the capacity of the United Nations to

address these challenges effectively has been brought

into question. There are many Member States

represented in the Assembly today that have first-hand

experience of the havoc caused by brutish terrorism,

which has stretched out its claws to many corners of

the world to mar innocent lives. All terrorist attacks

whether in New York, Mumbai, Cairo, London or

Colombo are acts that threaten the democratic way

of life, and must be condemned unreservedly.

Terrorism anywhere is terrorism. There is nothing

good in terrorism. Sri Lanka has taken an up-front

position in the global community’s efforts to deal with

terrorism. We have become party to 11 of the 13 United

Nations conventions for the suppression of various acts

of terrorism. We think that the comprehensive

convention on international terrorism which, in our

view, remains a priority is a hostage to endless

discussion. I emphasize that we must conclude those

negotiations soon.

In whatever continent there are conflicts, those

will affect the world economy. Peace in the Middle

East would have a great impact on our economy.

Solutions sought for conflicts in various countries must

be indigenous. Otherwise, even if the international

community is appeased, people in the countries saddled

with conflicts will not be satisfied. That would be a

blow to democracy. At this point, we must focus our

attention on the Palestinians who are striving for an

independent State. The world community must help

them to manage their country without any undue

influence.

We strongly support the strengthening of United

Nations mechanisms for countering fund-raising for

illegal and illicit activities. We encourage the

Secretary-General to allocate more resources to this

area, especially to enhance technical skills in countries

that do not have such skills. Many developing

countries would benefit from such assistance. We need

to have a better mechanism to provide solutions to the

problems confronting us. Support from all Member

States should be obtained for this purpose.

The United Nations has a mixed record of

achievements. As resources received by the United

Nations are limited, it has been only possible to deliver

limited results. We need to focus on these as they often

have been characterized by countless, poorly

coordinated, ineffectively designed, ineptly staffed and

overlapping programmes, with unnecessary inter-

agency competition. The United Nations must always

remember that its primary function is to render

assistance for the well-being of its Member States.

We have rounded the Development Decade

declared by the General Assembly. My country has

declared the “Mahinda Chintana” 10-year vision to

usher in a new Sri Lanka in line with those goals.

Through that we are committed to achieving the

Millennium Development Goals. We have accorded

priority to the areas liberated from terrorism, those that

have been devastated by natural disasters and rural

areas lagging behind in development. However, it is a

huge challenge for us to fill the gap created by the loss

of human lives arising out of disasters.

We are implementing a rural development

initiative based on Maga Neguma, the road

development programme, and “Gama Neguma”, the

rural reawakening programme and a national

infrastructure development initiative. The “Mahinda

Chintana” 10-year development vision includes

continuous qualitative upgrading of education and

health programmes in all areas, livelihood initiatives

for low-income groups, and broad social welfare

programmes covering poor and disadvantaged

members of society, aimed specially at children and

women. We also implement programmes to protect our

people from narcotic drugs and diseases transmitted

through social contact.

The working population, as well as low-income

and poor groups in developing countries such as ours,

face tough challenges due to escalating world oil prices

and increases in the prices of essential food items.

Similarly, we are severely affected by natural disasters

and uncertainties in the world financial markets. For

those reasons, it has become a challenge to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals declared by the

Assembly.

The World Bank, established for economic

development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF),

which was set up for financial stability, and other

regional banks established at the same time as this

world organization, all need to implement new

programmes to assist the countries affected by these

challenges. Priority must be given to providing

resources for this purpose.

I believe that our obligation as global leaders at

these sessions of the General Assembly, is to commit

ourselves to programmes that will eradicate terrorism,

establish human-welfare-oriented development,

establish democracy and ensure there is hope for

low-income groups for economic development.

Accordingly, I appeal to the global community to make

the sixty-second session the beginning of a new

chapter, rather than just another session.