UN in Sri Lanka

"The coming weeks should be important in further confirming to the world Sri Lanka’s commitment in empowering the people of the Northern and the Eastern provinces in managing their own affairs. On the 10th of March the election to the local bodies in the Batticaloa district would be a significant first step towards democratization of areas which were previously terrorised by the LTTE. The International community will be closely watching as to how this process is concluded."
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(March 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Intervening in the Emergency debate in parliament on 5 March 2008, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said he “wished to place on record of the house the significant contribution made by UN staff in Sri Lanka, whose commitment and painstaking efforts have supported the endeavor of the government to restore normalcy in areas affected by the present conflict, as it did in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami”. The Minister said, “their continuing efforts across the country in the fields of humanitarian relief and rehabilitation efforts, health, education and infrastructure development is fully recognized and appreciated. It will not be lost sight of due to the actions of a few errant officers, who have mistakenly been allowed into a system, that we believe continues to uphold the highest traditions of service”.

Full text of Speech…..

Angela Kane visit:

Much has been said in the media of this country about the recent visit to Sri Lanka by Ms. Angela Kane, UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs. Her visit has been described with many adjectives, including as a “fact finding mission”. Let me assure this house that the central objective of Ms. Kane’s visit was aimed at strengthening UN – GOSL relations in the backdrop of various incidents in the recent past and mounting criticism of the UN in the Sri Lankan press. I pointed out to Ms. Kane that the incidents of criticism in the past were due to the fact that some members of the UN staff had acted in breach of the UN mandate, including participating in demonstrations orchestrated by the LTTE in the uncleared areas. I appreciated the prompt action taken by the UN headquarters to withdraw the staff concerned from Sri Lanka. I was assured that the UN would prevent a recurrence of any such activities in the future. Ms. Kane who undertook a field visit to Batticaloa, which has the 2nd largest UN staff presence in Sri Lanka, expressed her satisfaction on the development of the district, in particular the speedy resettlement of internally displaced persons. She also agreed that there is a need in the Eastern Province for transition from humanitarian projects to livelihood projects and pledged to explore further UN support toward this end. On this occasion I wish to place on record in this house the significant contribution being made by the staff of the UN agencies in Sri Lanka whose commitment and painstaking efforts have supported the endeavor of the government to restore normalcy in areas affected by the present conflict, as it did in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami. Their continuing efforts across the country in the fields of humanitarian relief and rehabilitation efforts, health, education and infrastructure development is fully recognized and appreciated. It will not be lost sight of due to the actions of a few errant officers, who have mistakenly been allowed into a system, that we believe continues to uphold the highest traditions of service.

Asia Europe meeting (ASEM)

I am also glad to announce to this house that due to the prompt action taken by the Foreign Ministry both in Colombo and in the capitals, that we have succeeded in preventing the inclusion of Sri Lanka on the agenda of the forthcoming Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held in Beijing in October 2008, for which the preparatory meeting was held in Slovenia on 2-3 March 2008. The ASEM is a informal process of dialogue which initially brings together EU member States and the European Commission, with the ASEAN countries as well as India and Pakistan. Sri Lanka’s capacity to have thwarted this surreptitious effort to include Sri Lanka on the agenda of the ASEM is testimony to the fact that we do have friends of influence and that the Foreign Ministry has the capacity to successfully lobby them in times of need.

House of Lords discussion on Sri Lanka

The oral debate in the house of Lords on Sri Lanka on 27th December 2008 was instructive, for in the midst of much dis-information being repeated to please constituents, we saw a more informed debate initiated by Lord Naseby, who visited Sri Lanka last month and gathered a first hand account of developments in the Island.

Lord Naseby was to ask as to “what assistance Her Majesty’s government was offering to the Government of Sri Lanka following the recommendations of the All Party Representative Committee in that country”. Replying Lord Malloch –Brown, the British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office was to observe that the government of the UK supports the efforts of the APRC to device a political solution to the conflict. It was also noted that the UK believed that full implementation of the 13th amendment, including funding for the councils and greater emphasis on official use of the Tamil language, can be step forward. Responding to Lord Naseby as to whether the UK should not be doing more to stop the millions of pounds that are going from the UK to continue the war, the Minister of State observed that he had made very clear to Tamil UK nationals that he thought it utterly in appropriate for them to contribute in any way that might be used to provide military arms for terrorist activities in Sri Lanka.

Human Rights Council in Geneva

The 7th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) opens in Geneva on 3rd March 2008. Minister of Disaster Management of Human Rights Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe speaking at the High level segment of HRC on the 3rd has already briefed the council on various aspects of Sri Lanka’s commitment towards the promotion and protection of Human Rights as well as the consistent policy of openness and transparency with the International community which is being followed by the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. As stated by my colleague in Geneva, Sri Lanka’s position is that “while we do not hold ourselves above criticism from well meaning and genuine partners” at the same time “we do not however welcome efforts to denigrate and weaken us in the eyes of the International community to achieve propaganda games and to fulfill narrow political motivated objectives”. This will be the spirit of participation of the high level delegation from Sri Lanka at the HRC that will continue in Geneva through the coming 3 weeks. We are confident that the International community will view the Sri Lankan developments in the context of a democracy that is fighting terrorism, while preserving fundamental freedoms of its people.

International response to the continuing political process in Sri Lanka.

The coming weeks should be important in further confirming to the world Sri Lanka’s commitment in empowering the people of the Northern and the Eastern provinces in managing their own affairs. On the 10th of March the election to the local bodies in the Batticaloa district would be a significant first step towards democratization of areas which were previously terrorised by the LTTE. The International community will be closely watching as to how this process is concluded. It will be an indicator of the maturity shown by both the electors and those who will be elected to office. It will also be a curtain raiser for the Provincial Council elections which will be held shortly, as proposed in the January 23rd recommendations of the APRC.

- Sri Lanka Guardian