by Dayan Jayatilleka

The road to Geneva lay through New York. Sri Lanka’s unsuccessful attempt at the UN General Assembly in New York, despite a tireless effort by Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam and his team, to gain re-election to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in the face of a ferocious INGO campaign, has given rise to much commentary. While my own view on that outcome in New York and other related subjects will have to await the end of my ambassadorial experience and the publication of my reminiscences, it is more pressing an intellectual obligation to combat the claim that our failure was due to a foreign policy which was insufficiently oriented or friendly towards the West.

Defies LTTE boycott call:

Dharmasri Abeyrathne in Jaffna

Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition, was unanimously elected the President of the WHO Executive Board for a one year period at the 123^rd Executive Board meeting today in Geneva.

Accepting the Presidency the Hon. Minister said that it is the bounden duty of the member states to protect and nurture the WHO and also to ensure that it remains as the global leader in health.

Full speech delivered by Hon. Minister is as follows,