YouSaid · the spoken record

Lakshman Kadirgamar

lines on the record: 165
first: 1996-09-24
most recent: 2001-09-24
sittings or episodes: 5
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Who would demand consideration for and solidarity with such children if we allowed this Organization to decline?” [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-Second Session, Plenary Meetings, 9th Meeting] In order to realize the ideals of the founders of this world body, and the hopes and dreams of countless millions of people who look to the United Nations for their realization, we need to renew our faith and trust in the United Nations — not in the old United Nations, which is looked upon with cynicism, even suspicion, but in a United Nations that will, in a sense, be a new creation and a new being. But for the United Nations to be born anew we need to bring about fundamental structural changes in the international order, changes that will give it new life and strength for the coming century.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“If the United Nations has fallen short of our expectations, it is because we, the Member States, have failed to honour our obligations and fulfil our responsibilities to the world community, selfishly placing our national interests above the common good. If we continue in this fashion the United Nations will cease to be relevant altogether, and history will surely record it as yet another pious venture which we did not have the courage and commitment to make real. As the German Foreign Minister said from this podium a few days ago, “it is on our children, the weakest members of any society ... that the world’s future and hopes depend ... They are little people who need big rights. How much worse off would they be if there were no United Nations? What would become of the world’s conscience?”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“In the sphere of collective security and the maintenance of world peace, although major catastrophes have been averted, the United Nations has not succeeded in making real the dream of every human being to live in peace in a world free from the pestilence of war and all the attendant horrors of human carnage and the senseless destruction of everything we hold dear. Even the end of the cold war has made no great difference to countries such as ours embroiled in internal civil conflicts, all too often nourished by the giant armament manufacturers of the world, while the United Nations endlessly debates disarmament. However deep our sense of disappointment and disenchantment may be, have we any hope apart from the United Nations? I do not think we have.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“As we look back at the half century that has elapsed since the founding of the United Nations, we have, in truth, to acknowledge a sense of satisfaction at what has been achieved, however limited in scope, through our collective decisions and actions during that period. There have been undeniable gains in the spheres of economic and social development, however modest they appear to be when measured against our aspirations and objectives. Yet the fundamental problems of the developing world remain unresolved, while the developed countries have gone from strength to strength.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“On behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, I greatly welcome the appointment of a distinguished Ugandan diplomat, Mr. Olara Otunnu, as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to study the impact of armed conflict on children. His appointment has also been welcomed by Canada. The Canadian Foreign Minister also referred to and condemned the recruitment of children as soldiers. We must give our wholehearted support to Mr. Otunnu. He intends to propose and initiate concrete measures to tackle the problem. He will launch a campaign of public advocacy to bring to the notice of the world the terrible plight of children in war. I appeal to the international community not to allow his work to suffer for lack of funds.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The leader of the LTTE, while sending to their deaths thousands of young children — the youngest of the young — brings up his own children in comfort and safety, far from the battlefields, far away from the country itself. This barbaric practice of conscripting or luring children for war must be condemned by all civilized States, without any room for equivocation or doubt, and must be eliminated from our world if we are to preserve our humanity. I appeal to the affluent countries in which the LTTE has established offices and raises funds to prosecute its infamous war in Sri Lanka not to tolerate its presence or give it shelter when it engages in the commission of dastardly crimes against children — indeed, the children of its own community.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“I also urge strict adherence to the Convention on the Rights of the Child by all actors in armed conflicts, and I stress the need for specific measures to demobilize and reintegrate child soldiers into society and the need for early action to conclude the drafting of the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in regard to the involvement of children in armed conflicts and the prohibition of recruitment of children under the age of 18. We reject the complacent assumption made by some that the involvement of children in armed conflict is inevitable and unavoidable. This is clearly not the case. Their participation is the result of heartless, deliberate and calculated decisions made by ruthless men, regardless of the loss of innocent lives, relentlessly pursuing their 10 megalomaniac ambitions.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“By their silence it would appear that they are oblivious to the immense tragedy of a whole generation of young lives being sacrificed to Moloch, while a misguided few applaud the helpless victims as martyrs, and yet others seek to romanticize the so-called liberation of girls who have hitherto been brought up in a long-respected traditional mode, caring nought for the dehumanization that is involved. I strongly urge the international community to take action on the lines suggested in paragraph 62 of the Machel study. These recommendations envisage a global campaign aimed at eradicating the use of children under the age of 18 years in armed conflict and the public exposure of such practices by the media, creating international pressure against those who resort to them.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Their dependence on child combatants is increasing rapidly.” The Machel study has referred to the role which international organizations, non-governmental organizations, religious groups and civil society in general can play in preventing this diabolical practice. It is indeed a matter of great regret that in my own country, despite the notorious prevalence of the LTTE practice of recruiting children as fighters, these organizations, which are often quite vocal in their pleas for peace and swift to castigate excesses on the part of the armed forces, have remained strangely silent on this issue. By their failure to condemn such acts, they are surely guilty of a grave dereliction of the duty to uphold the moral and spiritual values of a civilized society.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The Machel study itself has observed, with specific reference to Sri Lanka, that “adults have used young people’s immaturity to their own advantage, recruiting and training adolescents for suicide bombings.” [ibid.] A recent press report on fighting in the north of Sri Lanka noted that “young boys barely in their teens are blindfolded and escorted by a woman Tiger cadre to the battlefield, in groups of eight to 10, their blindfolds removed and they are ordered to fire at troops”. In December 1995 the former United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in Sri Lanka said in a press release “The LTTE recruits boys and girls from the age of 10 upwards.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The international news agency IPS reported last May that “as adults are killed, up to half the fighters of the LTTE are children, many among them girls”. In another recent study, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women has strongly condemned the use of women in war by the LTTE. Many of these children, boys and girls, are no more than 10 years of age. Many of them are transformed into suicide bombers. They wear cyanide capsules around their necks. They are hurled into battle as human bombs.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The LTTE has conscripted thousands of teenage children to fight its war. Involving children as soldiers has been made easier by the proliferation of inexpensive light weapons. But the LTTE is committing more dastardly and more heinous crimes against Tamil children. It brazenly kidnaps them or lures them to its cause by glorifying and romanticizing war. They are brainwashed into believing in the cult of martyrdom. They swear fanatical allegiance to the leader. The Machel study identified Sri Lanka as one of the countries where children are being lured into “cults of martyrdom” [A/51/306, para. 43] by the “ideological indoctrination” [ibid.] of the LTTE. A book entitled Children, the Invisible Soldiers, released by the Save the Children organization in Stockholm, has condemned the use of children in suicide attacks by the LTTE.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“In January last year it bombed and destroyed the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, killing hundreds of civilians, and in July last year it bombed a rush-hour commuter train full of workers going home, again killing hundreds of civilians. These are but a few of the atrocities the LTTE has committed against civilians in the course of a long campaign of terror. Only a few months ago it killed 9 two of our Members of Parliament, adding to the large tally of politicians and other leaders murdered by the LTTE over the years, including a President of Sri Lanka and a Prime Minister of India. Recently the LTTE attacked international civilian shipping that provides essential services and supplies to the Tamil community in the north of Sri Lanka, the very community on whose behalf it claims to be fighting.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We have for almost two decades been in the grip of a war being fought against the State by a group of heavily armed terrorists known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and internationally known as one of the deadliest terrorist organizations the world has ever seen. It is fighting to create a separate State in Sri Lanka by force of arms. Last July the Senate of the United States unanimously concluded that the LTTE is a terrorist organization and requested the State Department to declare it to be so. Last August a Canadian court declared the LTTE to be a terrorist organization and ordered the deportation of its chief fund-raiser in Canada. The LTTE has killed thousands of unarmed civilians and has destroyed public property worth millions of dollars.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“34] A series of 24 case studies on the use of children as soldiers prepared for the Machel study, covering conflicts over the past 30 years, indicates that Government or rebel armies around the world have recruited tens of thousands of children. Many child soldiers are 10 years of age or younger. While the majority are boys, girls also are recruited. The children most likely to become soldiers are those from impoverished and marginalized backgrounds and those who have become separated from their families. In Sri Lanka we know exactly what the Machel study is talking about.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Many of today’s conflicts last the whole length of a childhood, meaning that from birth to early adulthood, many children will experience multiple and cumulative assaults. Against the background I have outlined, I wish to focus sharply on the terrible plight of child soldiers. The Machel study has pointed out that one of the most alarming trends in armed conflict is the participation of children as soldiers. Children serve armies in supporting roles, as cooks, porters, messengers and spies. Increasingly, however, adults are deliberately conscripting children as soldiers. Some commanders have even noted the desirability of using child soldiers in war because they are “ more obedient, do not question orders and are easier to manipulate than adult soldiers'”. [A/51/306, para.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Armed conflicts across and between communities result in massive levels of destruction: physical, human, moral, cultural. Not only are large numbers of children killed and injured, but countless others grow up deprived of their material and emotional needs, including the structures that give meaning to social and cultural life. The entire fabric of their societies — their homes, schools, health systems and religious institutions — are torn to pieces. The Machel study rightly points out that war violates every right of a child: the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health, the right to the development of the personality and the right to be nurtured and protected.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Machel pleads that whatever the causes of modern-day brutalities towards children, the time has come to call a halt. I make the same plea to the General Assembly today. The study exposes the extent of the problem and proposes many practical ways to pull back from the brink. Its most fundamental demand is that children simply have no part in warfare. The international community must denounce this attack on children for what it is: intolerable and unacceptable. Violent conflict has always made victims of non- combatants. The patterns and characteristics of contemporary armed conflicts, however, have increased the risks for children. The personalization of power and leadership and the manipulation of ethnicity and religion to serve personal or narrow group interests have had similarly debilitating effects on countries in conflict.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“In the past decade, an estimated two million children have been killed in armed conflict. Three times as many have been seriously injured or permanently disabled. Countless others have been forced to witness or even take part in horrifying acts of violence. These statistics are shocking enough, but more chilling, says the study, is the conclusion to be drawn from them: that more and more of the world is being sucked into a desolate moral vacuum. This is a space devoid of the most basic human values; a space in which children are slaughtered, raped and maimed; a space in which children are exploited as soldiers; a space in which children are starved and exposed to extreme brutality. Unregulated terror and violence speak of deliberate victimization. There are few further depths to which humanity could sink. Ms.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The study points out that millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are not merely bystanders but targets. Some fall victim to a general onslaught against civilians; others die as part of a calculated genocide. Still other children suffer the effects of sexual violence or the multiple deprivations of armed conflict that expose them to hunger or disease. Just as shocking, thousands of young children are cynically exploited as combatants. In 1995, according to the study, 30 major conflicts raged in different locations around the world. All of them 8 took place within States, between factions split along ethnic, religious or cultural lines. The conflict destroyed crops, places of worship and schools. Nothing was spared, held sacred or protected: not children, not families, not communities.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“It is a document so profound in its impact, so searing in the revelations it makes of matters that the world little understands that to ignore it would be a permanent rebuke to the collective conscience of mankind. The study exposes the plight of children as the victims of armed conflict. It covers the agonizing situation of children as refugees, as objects of exploitation and gender-based violence and above all as child soldiers. The study recommends measures for the rehabilitation and reconciliation of children affected by war, for promoting their psychological recovery and social integration, for their education and for dealing with a number of other questions relevant to the problem of mitigating the impact of war on children.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“At this time of year, every year, the General Assembly is engulfed by a flood of words that rises to new heights as the membership of our Organization grows in number. There is much waste, much repetition, much verbiage in our methods of work. But we must always remember that within this pile of papers there are some documents which deserve — which require — the closest attention of the international community. One such document, outstanding for its sweep, its depth and the careful research that went into its preparation is the study on the impact of armed conflict on children compiled by Ms. Graça Machel and her collaborators and submitted to the General Assembly last year under the symbols A/51/306 and A/51/306/Add.1.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“I am confident that she will bring to her task an open mind and a fair approach; that she will seek and promote informed dialogue, not confrontation; that she will strive to win the trust of developing countries; and that she will not apply double standards nor wield human rights concerns as a weapon against them. We wish her every success as she assumes her important duties. She may rest assured that she will receive from Sri Lanka the fullest cooperation. I have now reached the central theme of my address: the impact of armed conflict on children. Every year the United Nations builds a mountain of paper: according to the British Foreign Secretary, 2,500 tons of paper are produced annually at a cost of $150 million.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The Commission is now functional and is in touch with regional and international institutions including the United Nations Centre for Human Rights. I am also pleased to mention that I have today, just a short while ago, deposited with the Secretary-General Sri Lanka’s instrument of accession to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This important decision to permit international scrutiny of governmental actions affecting the human rights of our citizens is consistent with our policy of openness on human rights. Sri Lanka warmly welcomes the appointment of Mary Robinson as the new High Commissioner for Human Rights. I had the pleasure of discussing human rights issues with her a few days ago.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Undeterred by the extraordinary security problems posed by terrorism and the threats levelled against the democratic traditions and institutions of Sri Lanka, we have been able to make much headway in the promotion and protection of human rights in our country. Sri Lanka is now a party to 13 international human rights instruments. At the risk of exposing itself to tendentious propaganda by terrorist groups, the Government has taken a number of national and international measures on a broad front, to pursue an open policy on human rights in accordance with international norms. We have established a national Human Rights Commission, which is an independent organization with investigative, monitoring and advisory powers.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The delicate and complex process of protecting and promoting human rights, good governance and accountability in an environment of underdevelopment, violence and terrorism is one that should be carefully developed and resolutely moved forward. The Declaration of Human Rights is universal and unalterable. Sri Lanka does not believe that the Declaration should be diluted, modified or ignored. What we believe, and strongly advocate, is that international action to enforce human rights should be fair and even-handed. Human rights should never be used by powerful States to bludgeon and bully weaker States for spurious political reasons. The essence of peace and development is that each human being should be enabled to enjoy “better standards of life in larger freedom”.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We also hope that the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on an International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, of which Sri Lanka is a Vice-Chairman, will conclude its negotiations and submit a text for adoption at this session. Thereafter, we urge the international community, especially the large and powerful nations, to update their domestic legislation so as to arm themselves with adequate legislative authority to eradicate the fund-raising and other activities which take place on their soil in support of terrorist activities that take place on the soil of other States. Today terrorism is a phenomenon with international ramifications. Only 7 well-organized, well-coordinated international action can combat international terrorism effectively. I turn now to the question of human rights.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Their misuse and abuse of modern technology have vastly increased the power and influence of these criminal groups, which pose a massive threat to law and order, democratic political institutions and economic activities within and between nations. It should be a priority on the international agenda that effective measures be taken to control, if not eliminate, these pernicious elements. We agree with the recommendation that a redoubling of efforts involving new partnerships among national and international agencies will be needed to achieve this objective. It is to be emphasized that there should be coordination between the merged focal points on crime, drugs and terrorism and the United Nations department handling the flow of small arms and the illicit arms trade.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We therefore endorse the Secretary- General’s timely proposal to place United Nations action to combat crime and terrorism in an operational mode. There is convincing evidence that civil society and the rule of law are increasingly threatened by transnational networking in illicit arms, terrorism, narcotics, money-laundering and crime. The former Secretary-General rightly described this phenomenon as a “supra-national subversive threat” to peace and stability. The present Secretary-General has correctly focused on the fact that underworld groups and terrorists have mastered the abuse of technology and the globalized information network to propagate their sinister designs.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We are pleased to note that the need for change is now being widely recognized. In order to be credible, viable and successful, reform of the Security Council should prudently take into account the interests clearly set forth by the non-aligned nations. We are pleased to note that the United States of America has now agreed that an expanded Security Council should contain three representatives of the developing countries as permanent members. We agree with the Secretary-General’s proposal that there should be a dedicated locus for the United Nations operational activities against crime and terrorism. United Nations action against terrorism can no longer be confined to rhetorical statements and exhortations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Sri Lanka shares with many other delegations the disappointment that consensus has so far eluded our efforts to expand the Security Council. The General Assembly’s Open-ended Working Group on this issue has been deliberating since 1994 with very little progress accomplished, which is itself evidence of the contentious nature of the question. Sri Lanka was one of the 10 countries that brought the question of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the Security Council to the General Assembly agenda in 1979. Many Member States have consistently demanded that the composition of the Security Council should be broadened and that its working methods should be rendered transparent. The Council cannot remain structurally fossilized and anachronistic in a world of dynamic change.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Sri Lanka certainly shares the vision of the Secretary- General to make the United Nations a dynamic and cost- effective institution responsive to the challenges of our day and age. We recognize the necessity for reorganizing the Secretariat, the consolidation of United Nations activities into core areas, the creation of a senior management group, and the coordination of United Nations field activities as a manifestation of sound principles of good management. The creation of a United Nations Development Group that would consolidate and coordinate the activities of a variety of bodies is another proposal that merits close attention. We endorse the measures to strengthen the United Nations operational capacity to combat drugs, crime and terrorism by bringing together disparate international efforts under a single dedicated organization.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“More specifically, my theme is the impact of armed conflict on children: a subject that in the experience of Sri Lanka is drenched in 6 blood and tears. I will return to my theme in a moment. But first, the question of reform. Although 1997 is often referred to as the year of reform, we would prefer it to be remembered as the year of renewal and reform. Reform by itself is no substitute for empowering the United Nations. Renewal of the spirit of multilateralism enshrined in the Charter is an essential corollary to the reform exercise launched by the Secretary- General. If reform is to be conceptually sound and capable of effective implementation, it must command in the fullest sense consensus in the General Assembly.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“My Government also has a view, one that it shares with a large number of delegations, especially those of the countries of the Non- Aligned Movement. I will in a moment make my brief observations on the question of reform. But this year I wish to devote my address to the General Assembly, in the main, to a different theme. I wish to place before the delegations here assembled, fairly and squarely, and to plead fervently, a cause to which my Government is deeply committed and for which it has deep concern. It is a cause that deserves the strong support of all Governments and all the peoples of the world. It is a cause that challenges the conscience of mankind. It is a cause that cries out for redress, for immediate, concerted, vigorous action. It is the cause of the innocent, helpless victims of war.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“I also wish to convey our warm greetings, and indeed a very special welcome, to the Secretary-General as he participates in this, his first General Assembly debate since he became the chief executive of our Organization. He has, in a very short time, developed and launched a far-reaching programme of reforms, which is undoubtedly the most comprehensive undertaken in the 52-year history of the Organization. We pledge our fullest cooperation to him in his arduous work. We pledge to make a positive response to his initiative for reform. This year the General Assembly is preoccupied — and very rightly so — with the question of reform. It is no doubt an important question, a question on which all delegations have a view. Indeed, there are many conflicting views on the subject.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“May I begin, Sir, by extending to you our warm felicitations on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly. Your long association with the United Nations as Ukraine’s Permanent Representative and your diplomatic skills and accomplishments as your country’s Foreign Minister undoubtedly, if I may say so, make you eminently suited for the task of guiding our deliberations this year. We would like to place on record our deep appreciation for the achievements of your predecessor, Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia. As President of the General Assembly last year he left an indelible mark in the annals of this institution by giving it bold and vigorous leadership at a time when far-reaching changes in the United Nations system are being undertaken.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Indeed, we have no alternative or option in this matter, for to give up hope is only to slide into the depths of despair. But our hopes for the United Nations must be grounded in action, in a firm resolve to act decisively in the best interests of this great institution, indeed of all humanity, untainted by the narrow national interests which have dogged our path in the course of these past five decades. This is no easy task, but unless we remain unyielding in our determination to ensure that the United Nations remains faithful to the tasks envisioned by its founders, we will have failed the generations that follow us in the twenty-first century. 5”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We would have expected the scope of prohibition to be truly comprehensive and the provisions for entry into force not to be self-debilitating. We look forward to the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention as well as the Convention relating to bacteriological and toxin weapons. Sri Lanka remains a loyal and dedicated Member of the United Nations committed to upholding the noble principles of the Charter. Our faith and trust in this great institution, fashioned half a century ago, despite all its weaknesses and failures discerned in the intervening years, remains steadfast. These blemishes are after all but a mirror-image of the infirmities and inadequacies of all human kind. So we have no need to be either discouraged or despondent. We stand firm in the belief that the United Nations is still the best hope for this world.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Although the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons has been extended indefinitely, it is to be remembered that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is the ultimate end of the non-proliferation process. As a member of the Conference on Disarmament, our delegation has worked hard to ensure that all nuclear testing be banned as an interim measure, leading eventually to the total elimination of all nuclear weapons. The text of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty adopted by the General Assembly a few days ago was the result of several years' patient negotiations, yet its terms do not contain a firm and clear commitment to nuclear disarmament and the total elimination of all nuclear weapons.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The Movement, which has a membership of 113 countries, is today the largest grouping of independent sovereign States in the world, apart from the United Nations itself, which have come together with the common objective of achieving peace, prosperity and the welfare of their people, a majority of whom belong to the third world. With the end of the cold war, there were sceptics who thought that the Movement would die in the absence of a clear role for the future. We have been able to dispel this misapprehension and chart a new course for the Movement. It has emerged today as the voice of the third world, of the smaller countries which are crying out for a place in the sun and demanding opportunities for economic development and self-expression.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“I look upon the United Nations as the one machine available to mankind today through which it can express this unconquerable spirit of man in its efforts to achieve that peace, friendship and collaboration.” (Official Records of the General Assembly, Eleventh Session, Plenary Meetings, 590th meeting, p. 234-35) The policies he initiated in respect of Sri Lanka — and I confine my remarks to foreign policy — were carried forward by his successor, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who, as Prime Minister, attended the first Non-Aligned summit in Belgrade in 1961 and subsequently presided over the fifth summit of the Movement in Colombo.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Two days ago, we celebrated the thirty-fifth anniversary of the founding, in a formal sense, of the Non- Aligned Movement. Mr. Bandaranaike did not live to see the Non-Aligned Movement firmly established in 1961. However, in 1956, 40 years ago, he addressed this General Assembly and said: “We are supposed to be the uncommitted' nations. I strongly object to that word. We are committed up to the hilt. We are committed to preserve decency in dealings between nations, we are committed to the cause of justice and freedom.... “No doubt the prevention of war is a necessary factor for peace, but peace, believe me, is something much more positive than that, for peace in its true sense means human understanding, human friendship and cooperation out of which, indeed, peace in its true form alone can arise.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“At the political level, Sri Lanka, with other members of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean, is reviewing the concept of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace in the light of current realities in the region. I wish to refer at this point to the Non-Aligned Movement, of which Sri Lanka is a founding member. 4 Today — 26 September — is a particularly significant date for Sri Lanka, which commemorates a great patriot, the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who was assassinated on this date. He was Prime Minister from 1956 to 1959. He ushered in a uniquely peaceful, non-violent transformation of Sri Lankan society. His electoral victory in 1956 led to the empowerment of the rural, the underprivileged, the mass of the people of the country, and set the country’s foreign policy firmly towards non-alignment.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We remain deeply committed to our abiding concern of alleviating, if not eradicating, poverty in our countries within a realistic time-frame. Sri Lanka has turned increasingly towards promoting economic cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region with which we identify closely. We see regional cooperation as a source of political stability as well as mutual economic benefit. We have recently become a partner in the Indian Ocean rim initiative. We have applied for membership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. We also expect that, when the required ratifications are completed, the Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Cooperation will provide a further impetus to technical and other cooperation among Indian Ocean countries.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We commend the efforts taken by the United States of America, other concerned States and the States of the region to achieve the objective of bringing peace to the Middle East. We share the concerns of the world community in regard to the crises that have overtaken Liberia and Burundi and express our fervent hope that peace will be restored to these troubled regions. In our own region, South Asia, we have recorded progress in our efforts at regional cooperation. We celebrated the tenth anniversary of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) last December, heralded by the coming into force of the South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement. SAARC has set itself the goal of achieving a South Asian free-trade area by the early years of the new century. The private sectors of our region are engaged in close cooperation.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Looking at the world, we see that, in Bosnia, following the Dayton Agreement, the guns have been finally silenced, and we are happy to note that the peace Agreement is holding up. Sri Lanka has condemned the atrocities committed in Bosnia, particularly the inhuman and cruel treatment of the Muslims. We believe that a settlement will not be complete unless those responsible for the atrocities are brought to justice. In the Middle East, we hope the peace process will move on, without losing the momentum it had gained, despite the changes in the political scene in that area. Sri Lanka reiterates its support for the peace process, the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the establishment of conditions of peace and stability for all States in the region to live within secure boundaries.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The areas of competence of the Commission include monitoring, investigative and advisory functions. The act also addresses the question of liability of non-State actors for human-rights violations. My Government has decided to accede to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as a logical next step in a series of national measures. Sri Lanka will thus be among the few countries that have taken the progressive decision to ratify the Optional Protocol. The Government has given the highest priority to Sri Lanka’s obligations under international covenants and we are committed to continuing our cooperation with United Nations human-rights mechanisms.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“These efforts, however, would be negated if such economic cooperation were pursued only on terms overwhelmingly favourable to one side. Despite the pressures and tensions caused by a situation of conflict, we have succeeded in keeping our old democratic institutions and traditions alive and strong. We give our best attention to the protection and promotion of human rights. In furthering an elected Government’s accountability to its own people, the Government of Sri Lanka has taken several measures to strengthen the legal framework and ensure the effective implementation of human-rights standards. One of the significant measures we took this year was the establishment by act of Parliament of a Human Rights Commission. We have ensured that the act guarantees independence of action for the Commission.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“3 It is important that such institutions as the World Trade Organization, the successor institution to GATT, be sensitive to the concerns of developing countries in such matters as external investment flows, which should not be clogged with linkages to issues more relevant to other organizations and institutions. Similarly, while sound social and environmental policies are essential for all societies, arbitrarily imposed standards should not be used as excuses for trade discrimination or concealed protectionism. The Government of Sri Lanka has provided opportunities for its private sector to advance as the principal engine of growth. Sri Lanka continues to welcome investment — economic and technological collaboration with foreign entrepreneurs on the basis of mutual benefit.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In the development debate, globalization and the call for integration into a single global economic grid are held out as the primary or even the sole option for developing countries seeking cooperation with developed countries. But cooperation must not be confused with conformity. The specific character of individual developing countries, including the social and political compulsions facing their Governments, needs to be taken into account. Globalization involves the free flow of capital, the liberalization of trade, the privatization of State enterprises, the freezing of price controls and the scaling down of welfare measures even for the most vulnerable sectors of the population. These have not always proved to be a panacea for those developing countries which have accepted them as economic injunctions.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)