Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW)
Meeting of High Contracting Parties
General Exchange of Views – 13 November 2019
Statement by Sri Lanka
Mr. President,
It is with great pleasure and warmth that Sri Lanka welcomes you to Geneva and joins in congratulating you on your appointment as the President of this year’s Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW. We commend the leadership provided by Pakistan to the CCW process in the run up to this Meeting, as it did during the CCW Review Conference of 2016 as well. We also take this opportunity to applaud Benin on acceding to Protocols II, IV and V in 2019, further strengthening its commitment to the cause of the CCW.
Mr. President,
As a country successfully emerging from the effects of long-term conflict, Sri Lanka appreciates and underlines the pronounced need for humanitarian disarmament and arms control. Norms of humanity and related principles of international humanitarian law, including proportionality, inform discourses on regulation, control and eventual elimination of weapons that are excessively injurious. Following years of humanitarian demining work that was undertaken even as the conflict was raging, we are now inching closer to making Sri Lanka landmines-free in the near future. Through sustained national efforts at mine risk education, we also succeeded in bringing civilian casualties of landmines, to zero by 2018.
Addressing the WHO Metal Health Forum held in Geneva on 14 October 2019, Sri Lanka updated the global healthcare community, which comprised policy experts and representatives of Member States and international organisations, on progress achieved in advancing mental health, providing healthcare support and improving the working environment that could foster good health and wellbeing among the Sri Lankan population.
The intervention made by Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva at the Forum dealt with three main points namely, the need for mental healthcare and delivery of assistance to be holistic; the importance of an inclusive approach that ensured availability of mental healthcare coverage throughout the entire cycle of vulnerability; and the sustainment of a supportive environment that assured security, empathy and care for at-risk individuals.
Speaking at the General Debate of the 70th session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, outlined measures taken by Sri Lanka to address the issue of statelessness. The meeting, chaired by Ambassador Boudjemâa Delmi of Algeria, takes place from 7-11 October 2019, with the participation of Mr. Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Full Statement by Ambassador Azeez
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
09th October 2019
Speaking at the General Debate of the 70th session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, outlined measures taken by Sri Lanka to address the issue of statelessness. The meeting, chaired by Ambassador Boudjemâa Delmi of Algeria, takes place from 7-11 October 2019, with the participation of Mr. Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Full Statement by Ambassador Azeez
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
09th October 2019
Speaking at the 2019 Social Forum of the Human Rights Council on 1st October 2019, in Geneva, the delegation of Sri Lanka highlighted the importance of education, a fundamental human right that lies at the core of the 2030 Development Agenda, in the promotion and protection of human rights of children and youth and the transformative power it entails.
At the multi stakeholder meeting, which brought together Government representatives, intergovernmental organizations, civil society and the academia, Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva noted that all children and youth have an equal right to an education in a safe and secure setting irrespective of their gender, family income levels, religion, ethnicity, or geographical location and that a hate-free atmosphere that inculcates in children and youth the value of inclusivity and diversity is a crucial element in education that helps build lasting peace and contributes to the strengthening of the social fabric.
Empowering children and youth through access to quality education and ensuring that no child is left behind, is key to achieving sustainable development goals, stressed Ambassador Azeez. He shared Sri Lanka’s experiences in providing education to all and its commitment to promote and protect the right to education for all its citizens as enshrined in Sri Lanka’s laws and regulations.
He added that in order to ensure the special education needs of children with disabilities, 714 schools provide special education through designated units in government schools for disabled children and a special scheme of university admissions for persons with disabilities also exist.
“Such measures have resulted in remarkable social indicators in Sri Lanka in recent years, such as high enrolment rates in education, reduction of school drop-outs and universal primary education reaching 99.7% in 2014” Ambassador Azeez re-iterated.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
01 October 2019
Sri Lanka’s envoy in Geneva, Ambassador A.L.A Azeez, referred to the multifaceted work that WIPO has carried out, including through the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property, by mainstreaming its Development Agenda, that effectively ensures the continued sharing of IP protected knowledge among Member States.
WIPO’s norm-setting agenda, Ambassador Azeez stressed, has extended to a number of innovative areas including Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. He called upon the Inter-Governmental Committee to expedite its work to finalize international legal instrument/s extending protection for these vital intellectual assets.
Sri Lanka also expressed appreciation to WIPO for its continued assistance in the form of technical cooperation and capacity building, and updated the WIPO General Assemblies on Sri Lanka’s progress in the accession process to the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks.
The delegation of Sri Lanka to the WIPO General Assemblies comprised the Director General of the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka, Mrs. Geethanjali Ranawaka, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN, Ms. Dayani Mendis, and Minister Counsellor, Ms. Shashika Somaratne. The WIPO General Assemblies will be in session from 30 September to 11 October 2019 in Geneva.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
30 September 2019
Statement delivered by the Delegation of Sri Lanka at the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances during the 42nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Statement English , Sinhala, Tamil
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
12 September 2019