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ILO must be against all forms of terror - President

President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged the ILO to take cognizance of the threat of worldwide terrorism which has impacted both the developed and the developing world, in their pursuit for social justice for the working people.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the Chief Guest at the inauguration of the ILO’s 90th Anniversary Celebrations at President’s Office yesterday. Here the President receives a token of appreciation from Regional Director (Asia and the Pacific) ILO, Ms, Sachiko Yamamoto. Minister Athauda Seneviratne, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, and ILO Director Colombo Tine Staermose are also in the Picture Picture by Sudath Silva

The President made this call when he addressed the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) 90th anniversary celebrations ceremony, at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.

“In its commitment to social justice for the working people, the ILO must be against all forms of terror, not only in the workplace. The fisherman deprived of his harvest from the sea, the cultivator deprived of his crop from the land, the community driven out through ethnic cleansing, the plight of the ‘Internally Displaced’, is a new agenda the ILO would have to address as it enters its tenth decade and moves towards celebrating its century of service and progress”, he said.

President Rajapaksa said due to the relentless efforts of the heroic and gallant war heroes, a crucial sector of our workforce, terrorism which threatened our peaceful society and gave rise to misery, has now been eradicated from our land.

Having responded to the challenge in diverse ways such as dialogue and negotiations, which were rejected within the past three and a half years, they had been compelled to resort to force, the only language the terrorists seemed to comprehend. Force nevertheless had been used with caution, to minimise the inconvenience caused to the ordinary working people and with no disruption to their livelihoods.

The major challenge of terrorism, that affected our society, both rural and urban, and a challenge that drew on our resources that could have been set aside for development, for poverty eradication, assurance of gender equality, more improved working conditions among others, had been finally defeated.

The President noted that to achieve decent employment for the people, his Government presented the ‘Ten Year Horizon Development Framework, the Mahinda Chinthana Vision for a New Sri Lanka, in year 2006”. “It is a vision when converted to reality, as we do today, covers both macro-economic and pro-poor social development strategies”, he added.

He said this framework recognised the major development challenges confronting the country as being poverty alleviation, the elimination of regional disparities in development, disparities that were stark in nature, with the Western Province solely claiming the largest share of development, in the post-independence era.

“We have a commitment to changing this pattern, to build on the success we have already achieved and create the necessary decent employment opportunities, especially in this long neglected sector that is the reservoir of the strength of our people.

“We need to follow policies that will keep our rural people in the villages, giving them pride in the rural upbringing and more healthy environment. Infrastructure development must not by-pass the village but move together with the village and enhance rural life”, he reiterated.

President Rajapaksa asserted that Sri Lanka could feel proud for having an unblemished record and our compliance with the highest global standards in working conditions, especially in an era where ‘working conditions’ are of great concern in the global export markets.

The Garment industry, one of our largest exports, are proudly and rightly presented as ‘Garments without Guilt’. Similarly, our world-renowned Tea, is a Blend without Shame’.

It will be wrong not to acknowledge the guiding and inspiring role that the ILO has played in Sri Lanka, achieving such high ratings and recognition in an increasingly competitive world, President Rajapaksa added.

Labour Relations Minister Athauda Seneviratne, Urban Development Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Secretary to the Labour Relations Ministry Mahinda Madihahewa, ILO Director in Colombo Tine Staermose, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Nidhahas Sevaka Sangamaya Leslie Devendra, Director General of the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon Ravi Peiris, ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Sachiko Yamamoto also spoke.

A pre-recorded video presentation of the Director General of the ILO Juan Somavia’ addressing the ceremony, was also shown.

Tokens of Appreciation for the ‘Commitment to the World of Work’ were presented to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister Athauda Seneviratne and Ministry Secretary Mahinda Madihahewa.

President Rajapaksa presented ‘National Decent Work’ Awards to the Employers’ and Workers’ categories. The ceremonial announcements on the ratifications of the ILO conventions were also made at the ceremony.

 

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