At 21st session of HRC:
SL shares poverty eradication experience
The Sri Lanka Delegation to the 21st Session of the Human Rights
Council(HRC), intervening in the interactive dialogue with the Special
Rapporteur on ‘Extreme Poverty’, has emphasized that States and economic
actors must take concerted efforts to address extreme poverty and create
an enabling environment for sustainable economic development, which is
accessible to all.
Noting that Sri Lanka considers the Draft Guiding Principles on
Extreme Poverty and Human Rights as a tool, which can lead to developing
and shaping measures and activities needed to eradicate extreme poverty
across the world, the delegation called for strong political will and a
multi-pronged and multi-dimensional approach at all levels to make the
eradication of extreme poverty a reality, states a release from the Sri
Lanka Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva.
Noting that Sri Lanka has long recognised the importance of conducive
policies towards poverty reduction and sustainable growth, the Sri Lanka
Government’s current development framework – ‘Mahinda Chintana: The Way
Forward’ – has developed a strategy to stimulate economic growth and
ensure its even distribution.
The Government anticipated that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG)
of halving poverty in Sri Lanka will be achieved well ahead of 2015. The
proportion of people living below the national poverty line has declined
from 26.1% in 1990, to 15.2% in 2006/7, and to 8.9% in 2009/10.
Within the Mahinda Chintana the Divi Neguma, the sustainable
livelihood programme seeks to empower households through the
establishment of one million domestic economic units. As a result, Sri
Lanka has witnessed a marked improvement in nutritional levels of
beneficiaries through food security, generation of additional income and
economically empowered family units. The Government in 2011 spent
approximately Rs 20 Billion on this programme. It is envisaged to expand
this programme to target 2.1 million households in the next phase.
This programme in turn has fed into the Gama Neguma, or the empowered
villages programme, which targets on improving or provision of access to
electricity, water, sanitation and other essential services, including
health and education. The Pura Neguma programme clusters such empowered
villages into developed townships, regional growth centres propelling
Sri Lanka as an emerging economy focusing on environmentally friendly
industry, private sector development and the development of tourism
based economic activity.
Participating in the clustered interactive dialogues with independent
experts on ‘international solidarity’ and ‘democratic and equitable
international order’, the Sri Lanka delegation noted that in an era of
globalization, international solidarity is fundamental to achieving a
peaceful and secure future for all. Sri Lanka concurred with the view
that effective international solidarity must be based on shared
responsibility, mutual respect, cooperation and respect for national
sovereignty and the principle of non-interference.
It was noted that following the onset of peace, the Sri Lankan
government is determined to create a country of widespread prosperity
which will be the bedrock of a lasting peace and that Sri Lanka’s
sincere efforts at reconciliation based on a home-grown process can be
further consolidated by the goodwill of the international community.
Sri Lanka counted on international solidarity at this juncture to
achieve the development targets it has set for itself with an in-depth
vision and understanding of the priorities and the aspirations of its
people.
Emphasizing that International solidarity cannot be confined to
assistance or aid, but comprises a range of issues including
sustainability in international relations, especially economic
relations, peaceful coexistence, equal partnerships and the equitable
sharing of benefit and burden, Sri Lanka concurred with the Independent
Expert’s view that a democratic international order requires greater
transparency and respect for the needs and aspirations of peoples in all
regions of the world, regardless of economic power or geo - strategic
imperatives. Coercive tactics exercised by more powerful sections of the
international community on smaller and economically weaker states does
not contribute to the consolidation of international solidarity nor
would it foster a democratic and equitable international order.
Sri Lanka also underlined its concerns that the continued existence
of nuclear weapons and of their possible use or threat of use, poses an
overarching threat to humanity and for the establishment of a democratic
and equitable international order. Sri Lanka joined the collective voice
for the elimination of nuclear weapons from national arsenals, taking
into account the security interests of all States and on the basis of
the principle of undiminished security for all. |