The celebration of Human Rights Day in Sri Lanka this year is of special significance as it takes place when the entire country is liberated from the clutches of terrorism and all Sri Lankans enjoy the freedoms they were denied for a very long time, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a message to mark the World Human Rights Day. 

"The defeat of terrorism and the expansion of freedom in the country demonstrate the commitment of my Government to extend the freedoms of democracy and respect for human rights to all parts of the country," the President said.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama who is currently in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar to participate in the 12^th Session of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Ministerial Meeting had bilateral consultations with the Foreign Ministers of Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand.

More than 70 percent of the Internally Displaced Persons have now left relief centers in North and the government is close to achieving its target of resettling the entire IDP population within 180 days, said Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights.  

Accordingly, more than 20,000 IDPs had moved out of the camps within last three days to visit their relatives after registering themselves with the relevant authorities.

It is a great pleasure for me, as the current Chair of SAARC, to extend warm greetings and best wishes of the Government and people of Sri Lanka to the Governments and people of South Asia on the occasion of the commemoration of the SAARC Charter Day.

It gives me great pleasure to extend greetings on the twenty-fourth anniversary of the signing of the Charter that established the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.   

SAARC reflects the determination of the Governments and peoples of South Asia to work together towards finding solutions to their common problems in a spirit of amity and cooperation based on mutual respect, equity and shared benefits.

I am delighted to issue a message to commemorate SAARC Charter Day. It is noteworthy that during the last twenty-four years of its existence, SAARC has moved forward steadily from a declaratory to an implementation stage, with considerable progress in realizing several of the important objectives set out in the Charter.

Sri Lanka's candidate, Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam was re-elected to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW), to serve a four-year term, until the end of year 2013, at the election held in New York on 3^rd December 2009. The election was held at the Fourth Meeting of the States Parties to the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.

Hon. Rohitha Bogollagama, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs met with a group of British Parliamentarians today at the House of Commons in an interactive session.  The group of members of parliament comprised Labour Party MPs Mr. Virendra Sharma, MP for Ealing & Southall, Mr. Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East, Ms. Siobhain McDonagh, MP for Mitcham & Morden and Liberal Democrat MPs Mr. Edward Davey, MP for Kingston & Surbiton and Mr. Simon Hughes, MP for Southwark & Bermondsey.

Sri Lanka as the host for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 was endorsed on a proposal made by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the CHOGM held in Trinidad & Tobago from 27 – 29 November 2009. Since Australia and Mauritius had also offered to be host, Prime Minister Brown had pointed out that all   three countries are equally qualified and it was decided by the Commonwealth Heads of Government that they host the 2011 and 2015 CHOGMs respectively. The endorsement of Sri Lanka by the entire membership of the Commonwealth singularly demonstrates the recognition of Sri Lanka’s adherence to the Commonwealth values and principles with the country being one of the most vibrant democracies.

The global liquidity conditions are yet to recover to pre-crisis levels, with many Commonwealth countries finding it difficult to raise the required external funding through multilateral and other donor agencies and accordingly, Financing Agencies should be promoted to lend to developing countries under concessional terms and conditions where possible, observed Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama in his intervention on the discussions on the World Economic Situation, at the pre-Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) today (25 November 2009) in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago.

With the post conflict  process now underway in Sri Lanka, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith agreed to consider providing more assistance to Sri Lanka for the ongoing resettlement and reconstruction programmes when he met  Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday (25^th November 2009) in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Australian Foreign Minister during the meeting stated that he welcomed the early resettlement of the IDP from the welfare villages and recent announcement regarding the freedom of movement of those remaining IDP in the welfare villages.   Australian Minister recalled his recent visit to Sri Lanka, which he said had afforded him an opportunity to experience at first hand the positive development in the post conflict phase.

The Second Meeting of the SAARC Ministers of Science & Technology which was chaired by the Minister of Science & Technology of Sri Lanka, Prof. Tissa Vitarana, was held in Colombo on 24^th November 2009.   

The Ministerial meeting was attended by Ministers of Science and Technology from SAARC countries namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan.

21 November 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the Government decision to allow greater freedom of movement to Sri Lankans sheltering in makeshift camps in the north of the country.

On the directives of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Government has made all the necessary arrangements to complete the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in the northern transitional centers by 31st January 2010, Senior Advisor the President, Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa said today (21).

At a discussion held this morning in Vavuniya, Parliamentarian Rajapaksa said  the restrictions imposed on the movement of civilians in the IDP centers will be lifted with effect from 1st December 2009 to enable  them to freely move to any part of the region, Rajapaksa added.

The UN Under-Secretary -General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, who is on an official visit to Sri Lanka from 17th to 19th November 2009 called on Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on 18th November 2009 at the Ministry.

 During the discussions, Foreign Minister Bogollagama outlined the resettlement process and demining activities which had taken place so far and highlighted the fact that the number of IDPs was declining on a daily basis due to the rapid pace of the resettlement process. Foreign Minister Bogollagama requested Sir John Holmes to consider providing more assistance in the areas of demining, infrastructure development and livelihood enhancement for the IDPs who were recently resettled and added that there was room for further movement out of the welfare villages in the coming days.

 

H.E. Mrs. Kshenuka Senewiratne presented her credentials, accrediting her as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland, to H.E. Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva. H. E. Mrs. Senewiratne will also function as the Consul General of Sri Lanka in Switzerland.

H. E. Mrs. Senewiratne earlier served as High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland with concurrent accreditation to Ireland.  Mrs. Senewiratne also served as Deputy High Commissioner in London and at the Sri Lanka Missions in Brussels and New York.

Address by Hon. Rohitha Bogollagama, Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Sri Lanka Expatriate Forum 2009 on 14^th November 2009 at the Presidential Secretariat 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

On behalf of His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka, I warmly welcome you all this afternoon for an interactive session on the role the Sri Lanka Diaspora can play in the post conflict developmental efforts. I am confident that our interactions will be fruitful in view of the overwhelming response we have received to the invitation extended by His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa, for this important event.

Peace benefits must be strengthened through economic measures and inclusive reconstruction efforts, says UN Assistant Secretary General 

Colombo, November 13, 2009. “We appreciate the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka, in the past few weeks, to accelerate the release and return of IDPs and as agreed with the Secretary General in May, to resettle a majority of the IDPs by January 2010,” said Mr. Ajay Chhibber, UN Assistant Secretary General (ASG) and Assistant Administrator for UNDP, while on a three day mission to Sri Lanka, which concluded today.

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Beijing together with the National Gem and Jewellery Authority and Gem and Jewellery Association organized a colorful Sri Lanka Pavilion at the International Gem and Jewellry Fair 2009 from November 5^th to 9^th  at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing.