President Maithripala Sirisena will join the Heads of Government of the 53-member Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that is to convene in London from 16-20 April 2018. The President will be joined by the Minister of...
Lanka Mineral Sands Limited (LMSL), a fully Government owned company operating under the purview of Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka has invited sealed bids from foreign parties who are interested in buying 25,000MT of ILMENITE. Prescribed...
Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez presented Credentials today, (12th April) to Mr. Michael Møller, the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, accrediting him as the Permanent Representative...
As we pursue Sustainable Development targets with an objective to ‘leave no one behind by 2030’, it is becoming apparent that the kind of impact technology and AI can make in realising the 17 SDG’s...
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Hon. Tilak Marapana, PC., MP, addressed the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) following the presentation of the report of the Office of the...
The adoption of the Universal Periodic Review Report on Sri Lanka took place this afternoon at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Sri Lanka was represented by Permanent Representative Ambassador...
Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka of Sri Lanka speaking at the consideration of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report of Cuba:
Mr. Vice President,
Cuba participated in the UPR process on a very important landmark anniversary in its history: 50 years after the victory of the Cuban revolution. Cuba’s participation in the UPR has been a model of dynamism and active engagement. Here, Sri Lanka would like to salute the role played by Ambassador Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios, who has been a militant combatant and a field commander in the battle of ideas in the Human Rights Council.
He has combine maturity, sagacity with militancy and fought against any and every attempt to use Human Rights selectively and hypocritically as an instrument. He has fought to make sure that the Human Rights Council is a level-playing field for everyone and that Human Rights are a patrimony of us all. Mr. President, the Council has full faith in the abilities of his worthy successor, but dare I say that we will be diminished by his absence from Geneva, next month.
Mr. President, Cuba has discharged its responsibilities under conditions of extreme external hostility, pressure and siege. This long-standing and unreasonable siege has not prevented Cuba from being a model of generosity and altruism. Cuba has not only been a model of the practice of social and collective rights within its territory, it has also been the enabler of the enjoyment of such rights throughout the developing countries. May I say that Cuba’s contribution is not limited to collective rights, because Mr. President, imagine the exercise of the rights of the individual when one who did not have sight, has been given sight through Cuba’s operation Milagro, and one who was illiterate has learned to read through the program of Yes I Can – the Literacy Program.
Therefore, Sri Lanka salutes Cuba’s Human Rights contribution and performance and strongly endorses the adoption of its UPR report.
Thank you.
Copyright © 2014 www.lankamission.org. All Rights Reserved. Solution by UCSC