Terrorism threatens and diminishes all of us
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The following is the text of the
Address made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the XV Non-Aligned
Movement Summit participating in the General Debate on International
Solidarity for Peace and Development
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It is with great pleasure that I address you today in this historic
land of a great civilization and a fountain-head of the Non-Aligned
Movement. Let me thank the Egyptian authorities for the wonderful
hospitality extended to me and my delegation. I also wish to thank
President Raul Castro for his efficient and inspiring stewardship of our
Movement, through challenging times.
Representing a founding nation of our Movement, I am honoured to
speak today on several current issues of relevance to us. I note some of
the useful suggestions made by Libyan Leader Muammar Ghaddafi.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the NAM Summit.
Picture by Sudath Silva |
I am proud to announce that my country has succeeded in eliminating
one of the most brutal terrorist groups in the world. This group was not
a liberation movement but an anti-national separatist cult that
glorified violence. Sadly they were able to propagate their cult of
violence and hatred in some countries which, for understandable but
unjustifiable political reasons, seemed less than forthright in their
opposition to terrorism that did not seem to threaten them.
Terrorism threatens and diminishes all of us, so we are grateful to
our friends, especially in the Non-Aligned Movement, who helped and
stood by us consistently through our most difficult times. Sri Lanka has
consistently condemned terrorism in all its forms and therefore we are
happy at our success in defeating terrorism on our soil, and hope that
the world, like our principled friends here will rejoice with us and not
begrudge a victory they should hope will be repeated elsewhere.
For 27 long years my people were gripped by mortal fear. A great sigh
of relief has now swept across the entire nation being finally released
from the grip of the fear of terrorism. The Sri Lankan Nation now looks
to the future with renewed hope and enthusiasm. We have faith that all
our friends who stood by us in our hour of need will continue to stand
by us and walk with us in our journey to develop Sri Lanka for the
benefit of all our people.
Our Government is aware that defeating a terrorist group does not
solve the underlying grievances of our people. We are therefore now
dealing with these issues. First and foremost, we are engaged in
attending to the needs of the 287,000 civilians who were held hostage by
the terrorists and liberated by our Security Forces. Our goal is to
quickly return the displaced to their homes and to restore their
livelihoods.
The needs of the displaced are substantial, and we welcome and thank
all those in the international community who have offered us assistance.
I take this opportunity to thank the United Nations, and the Secretary
General in particular who visited Sri Lanka and extended UN assistance.
I also thank those countries that have given generously to benefit our
people who suffered for so long with no one to speak for them when under
terrorist domination.
Our society is a caring society, and people from all parts of the
country have come forward to assist those who were displaced. We are
confident that our Government, together with our civil society, and with
the support of our international friends, will ensure that all displaced
persons resume their normal lives very soon, and partake fully in the
social, political and economic development on which my Government has
embarked. We have noted the comments made by our colleagues with regard
to the use of sanctions against individual countries. Sanctions,
whatever the cause, only punish the people of that country. Punishing
people must never be endorsed by the international community.
The world is today confronted by a crisis that is essentially the
creation of the financial markets of certain developed countries. As a
consequence of this financial crisis, our development agenda is
challenged; our exports are crippled; our industries are suffering from
a lack of confidence; and we face an externally induced liquidity
shortfall. It is unfortunate that many countries of the developing
world, which largely with their own resources climbed up the ladder of
development, are adversely affected and even penalized in this manner
due to the global financial crisis which was not of their own making.
The rescue packages currently being implemented seem to focus
essentially on helping the economies of developed countries. This is
short-sighted, as the world today is inter-linked and inter-dependent as
never before. There cannot be a satisfactory outcome to this crisis
unless these packages are designed to help developing countries’
economies as well. Among other measures, we urge the consideration of
temporary deferment of debt repayment as an essential short-term
initiative to overcome current difficulties of the affected developing
countries.
We believe in self-help and solidarity which are hallmarks of our
movement as well. In this spirit, I would like to propose that we
combine our substantial collective resources to establish an Emergency
Financing Facility which could be accessed in situations of the current
sort. For far too long, global financial institutions have been
dominated by traditional economies.
Today the world economy is different. We must not be bound by a
framework that is outdated and ineffective. The global financial
architecture must reflect current circumstances, be democratic and,
until such time, it would be sensible to establish a Reserve Facility of
our own to assist fellow developing country in emergency situations.
We have another serious problem affecting our home, the Planet Earth.
Human activity is causing the global climate to heat-up at an alarming
rate. This will have far-reaching consequences for animal and plant life
and for human civilization. In our own region, South Asia, sea-level
rise resulting from climate change will bring serious consequences to a
number of countries, including the inundation of coastal lowlands and
the contamination of fresh water sources. Again, our own region will be
affected by prolonged droughts, shortages of drinking water and, in some
areas, unseasonal rains and glacier melting.
All this will result in serious adverse implications for agriculture,
fisheries and related industries. There is a clear possibility of
environment-related issues becoming a challenge to our region. We must
address this difficult problem in a pragmatic manner. I continue to
believe that those who polluted our Planet through rapid and
indiscriminate industrialization, and who continue to pollute in
disproportionate quantities, must bear the primary burden in addressing
this problem.
Of course developing countries must play their role in addressing the
threat of climate change; but this should not be done in a manner where
we would have to make unfair sacrifices, compromising progress towards
poverty alleviation and the prosperity of our people. It is vital in
particular that, in an era of increasing concern for human rights, we
address the consequences for the poor of pollution, and ensure
mechanisms for compensation when basic rights, for life, for health, for
development, are violated.
Developing countries must be assisted technologically and financially
to follow a different development model from the ones which have
resulted in damage to our Planet. There must be recognition of the
carbon debt owed by developed countries to developing countries, and the
low per capita carbon emission rate of developing countries. Those
countries which have managed to preserve their tree cover that is now
acting as an Earth Lung should be given credit for what they have
preserved and continue to nature.
As the current Chair of SAARC, the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation, Sri Lanka has taken the lead in mobilizing our
region to address the most acute challenges that currently face our
region, namely terrorism and the impact of the global financial crisis.
Our collective vision has since resonated in many international fora.
SAARC which is a small group of countries has a permanent Secretariat of
their own.
Unfortunately, the Non-aligned Movement though existing for over five
decades has not been able to establish a permanent Secretariat so far. I
strongly proposed that we the leaders of Non-aligned countries come
together to establish a permanent Secretariat for our movement.
On this occasion, let us re-dedicate ourselves to work in solidarity
towards; Peace and security of societies where any manifestation of
terrorism will never be allowed, and the sovereignty of our nation is
promoted and preserved; A financial architecture and facilities that are
specifically focused on the needs of developing countries; and
A green planet with equity best responsibilities and benefits.
May the Noble Triple Gem Bless You all. |