Rehabilitation and reconstruction in the East
Address by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the
62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York on
September 25, 2007 |
President at a public meeting |
Sri Lankan 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
was use of living languages such as Sinhala and Tamil, two languages
used by many even today.
Therefore, I consider it my obligation to use Sinhala, a living
language to address this august assembly.
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I 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, to avoid trying to resolve problems - through violence,
revenge and blame. And yet we see a trend to find fault, to place
countries in the dock and penalize those who do not fall in 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 that despite the significant challenge posed by
the ongoing conflict with a ruthless terrorist group in the North of the
country, we have freed the Eastern Province from terrorism, and restored
law and order there. My Government has already launched a massive
program of rehabilitation and reconstruction in the East.
We propose to make the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka a model for
development and rehabilitation, essentially with our own efforts 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 by 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 will 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 we are moving 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.
It is despite brutal terrorism of 25 years that 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 is loving kindness to all living
beings and Ahimsa is 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 CEDAW
[Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women] - including rights of property ownership and inheritance rights.
It was certainly not an 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. Therefore, it had 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 believes, as one of the founder members of the Human Rights
Council, 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 is fair and even handed. Human rights have to be protected and
advanced for their own sake, not for political gain.
Even as we gather 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 UN system has set up mechanisms to deal with many of
these problems, the capacity of the UN to address these challenges
effectively has been brought into question.
There are many Member States represented in this Assembly today who
have first hand experience of the havoc caused by brutish terrorism
which has stretched out its claws to many corners of the globe 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 upfront
position in the global community's efforts to deal with terrorism. We
have become party to 11 of 13 UN 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 only
limited to endless discussion.
I emphasize that we must conclude these 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.
This will 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 UN 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 which do not have such skills.
Many developing countries will benefit from such assistance. We need to
have a better mechanism to provide solutions to the problems confronting
us. Support should be obtained from all Member States for this purpose.
The UN has a mixed record of achievements. As resources received by
the UN are limited, it has been only possible to deliver limited
results. We need to focus on these as they have often been characterized
by countless, poorly coordinated, ineffectively designed, ineptly
staffed and overlapping programs, with unnecessary inter-agency rivalry.
The UN must always remember that its primary function is to render
assistance for the well being of its Member States.
We have reached the Development Decade declared by the General
Assembly of the United Nations. My country has declared the "Mahinda
Chinthana" ten year vision to usher a new Sri Lanka consonant with those
goals. Through that we are committed to achieve 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 program, and "Gama Neguma", the rural
re-awakening program and a national infrastructure development
initiative. "Mahinda Chinthana" ten year development vision includes
continuous qualitative upgrading of education and health programs in all
areas, livelihood initiatives for low income groups, and broad social
welfare programs covering poor and disadvantaged of the society, and
those specially aimed at children and women. We also implement programs
to protect our people from narcotic drugs and diseases transmitted
through social contact.
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 prices of essential food
items. Similarly, we are being severely affected by natural disasters,
uncertainties in the world financial markets.
Therefore, it has become a challenge to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals declared by this august assembly.
The World Bank established for economic development, IMF set up for
financial stability, and other regional banks established at the same
time as this world organization need to implement new programs to assist
the countries that are affected by these challenges. Priority must be
accorded to provide the resources for this purpose.
In these sessions, I believe that our obligation as global leaders is
to commit ourselves to programs that will eradicate terrorism, establish
human welfare oriented development, establish democracy and ensure there
is hope for lower income groups for economic development. Accordingly, I
appeal to the global community to make the 62nd session the beginning of
a new chapter rather than just another session. |