Mr President,
[I thank you Mr. President, for your kind words of welcome.]
Sri Lanka congratulates Egypt and you, Ambassador Ahmed Gamaleldin, on assuming the first Presidency of the 2023 session of the Conference on Disarmament. My delegation assures you and other P6 Presidencies of our full support and cooperation to find common ground for fulfilling CD’s obligations towards strengthening international peace and security. We also thank the Secretary General and the CD Secretariat for their continuous support.
I have the honour to make a statement at the plenary of this august Conference following my assumption of duties as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva earlier this month. It is a pleasure to be back in the Conference on Disarmament after 20 years; however it is sad to see that the CD is still going through excessive institutional pain year after year with no real progress on fulfilling its negotiating mandate. I look forward to working with all delegations in a spirit of cooperation and wish to reiterate our position that only through confidence building and equal respect for the security of all Member States that we will be able to achieve the much-needed consensus towards adopting a programme of work.
Agenda Item 8: General Exchange of Views
Mr. President,
We join with other delegations in congratulating Ambassador Aidan Liddle of the United Kingdom on your assumption as President of the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Please be assured of our delegation’s full support in ensuring a successful conclusion to our deliberations. We also wish to thank the CCM ISU for their work to implement the Convention.
Mr. President,
At the outset allow me to reiterate Sri Lanka’s strong commitment to realize the humanitarian objectives and principles of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, to put an end to inhumane injury and suffering caused by cluster munitions during and after conflicts. Sri Lanka had the honour to preside over the 9th Meeting of State Parties to the Convention in 2019, one year after its accession to the Convention.
Statement by Sri Lanka on General Exchange of Views
Mr. Chair,
Sri Lanka would like to congratulate you on your assumption of the Chair of the first session of the 2022 of the OEWG on reducing space threats and for the opportunity to share our views on this subject. You have our full support in moving this process forward towards a substantive outcome. We would also like to appreciate the thought-provoking presentations made by today’s panelists.
Sri Lanka’s active engagement on the issue of Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) has been well known and dates back to the early 80’s when with likeminded developing states, we called for the preservation of outer space as the common heritage of all mankind, to be used in cooperation and solely for peaceful purposes. It is in as far back as 1985 that Sri Lanka proposed a moratorium on the testing and development of space weapons preceding multilateral negotiations on a treaty to prohibit all weapons in space. As you are aware Sri Lanka continues to present the First Committee Resolution on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) alternatively with Egypt each year for over four decades and remains true to its principled position that outer space is the common heritage of all humanity and should be kept free of weaponization.
Statement by Sri Lanka
9 May 2022
Mr. Chair,
Since the first launching of a satellite in 1957, space exploration, interest and use of space have developed rapidly. Conflict in space could affect not only space faring nations but also those who do not have space power in view of the interconnectedness and the reliability of space based services. The Outer Space Treaty, the legal cornerstone of international law on space activities, recognizes in its preamble “the common interest of all mankind in the progress of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes” and establishes in its Article 3 the basic principle that, “activities in the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be in accordance with international law, including the Charter of the United Nations.” In addition, the Rescue Agreement of 1968, the Liability Convention of 1972, Registration Convention of 1974, the Moon Treaty of 1984 as well as UN declarations and principles which are non binding in nature provide important references to existing legal regime and principles on space behaviour.
Mr. President,
Madam Secretary General and
Distinguished delegates,
It is an honour for me to address the high-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament, the world’s sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum.
Mr. President as a member of the Conference on Disarmament since its inception, we take pride in its past achievements and recall its successes and those of its predecessor entities which led to the conclusion of landmark Conventions such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). I would like to reiterate at the outset Sri Lanka’s long-standing policy against the possession development and use of all weapons of mass destruction; chemical, biological and nuclear. We remain a strong advocate of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament in line also with the principles of the Non Aligned Movement in multiple fora in New York , Vienna , the Hague and in particular here at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
Thank you Madam Chair
allow me to congratulate you at the outset on your appointment as the chair of this Committee and to assure of our full support.
Sri Lanka takes note of the content of the draft report, and we note with concern that the recommendations on the future mandate of the GGE have fallen short of the expectations of those who voiced for a more ambitious mandate for the GGE.
- 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 Sixth Review Conference General Exchange of Views Statement-Sri Lanka 13.12.2021
- Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) 22-25 November 2021 Agenda item 5 - General Debate, statement of Sri Lanka
- Nearly 12 000 landmines destroyed by Sri Lanka under the Mine Ban Convention