Addressing experts, Governments, and other participants at the Intersessional Expert Meeting on the full enjoyment of human rights by all women and girls and the systematic mainstreaming of gender perspective into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva stated “It is incumbent on all stakeholders to strive to create a culture of respect for equality and non-discrimination and to work towards dispelling the myth of inferiority attributed to women over centuries”. He called for all stakeholders to work together to ensure a dignified life and a better future for all women and girls.
The Intersessional Expert Meeting began its two day session in Geneva today, with the opening remarks of Ms. Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, followed by presentations by experts representing different UN agencies and an interactive dialogue.
“Carefully thought-through and targeted approaches geared to empowering women”, Ambassador Azeez stated, were “imperative for the effective advancement of development goals in national and international programmes.”
He emphasized that ensuring access to quality health services and quality education would significantly improve life chances and better employment opportunities for women and girls. “Such empowered women and girls can bring transformational improvements in the health and prosperity of families, communities, societies and nations they live in”, he remarked.
Sharing the experiences of Sri Lanka in recent times, he outlined the measures taken by the Government to address challenges faced by women, such as the adoption of a National Action Plan for prevention of gender based violence (GBV) and the National Human Rights Action Plan (2017-2021) as well as the enactment of legislation aimed at increasing women representation in local governing authorities.
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative reiterated that achieving gender equality was not just an issue of women and girls, and that it went way beyond, calling for the active involvement of all stakeholders.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
2 May 2018
Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva met with the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi at UNCTAD headquarters, on 30th April 2018. UNCTAD Secretary General appreciated Sri Lanka for the active role played and the productive contribution made towards the effective operationalization of the organization in its establishment phase as well as for the continued support and cooperation extended in the implementation of UNCTAD’s agenda and programmes.
Ambassador Azeez took the opportunity to reaffirm Sri Lanka's commitment to the work undertaken by UNCTAD, in particular towards facilitating and strengthening developing countries’ integration into the globalized economy and their implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He assured the UNCTAD Secretary General that Sri Lanka would further enhance its partnership and would proactively contribute to the ongoing activities of UNCTAD.
Having highlighted Sri Lanka’s continuing cooperation with UNCTAD on a number of prioroty areas such as Investment, Electronic Commerce, Science and Technology and Commodity Development, among others, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative projected Sri Lanka as an important venue for hosting multilateral and regional activities of UNCTAD in the future.
UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964. Its primary mandate is to provide a forum to deal with issues relating to trade, investment, and development affecting progress and prospects for development of developing countries. UNCTAD, pursuant to this mandate, extends assistance to developing countries in their efforts to effectively integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis.
Sri Lanka Permanent Mission
Geneva
1st May 2018
While individual States have the primary responsibility for national development, the need for further collective efforts and collaboration, between States and between numerous stakeholders, in addressing poverty, disasters, conflicts and health hazards are imperative, Sri Lanka said on 23rd April 2018, addressing the General Debate of the 19th Session of the Working Group on Right to Development (RtD). Sri Lanka’s Delegate Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Geneva Ms. Shashika Somaratne, while taking note of the progress made so far by the Working Group, reiterated the call for finalizing as a matter of urgency, the criteria and the operational sub-criteria, which are being under negotiation since 2010. In this context, she drew attention to the proposal by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), on a set of standards regarding the implementation of the Right to Development and the non-paper aimed at finalizing the consideration of the criteria and sub-criteria with a view, to facilitate the process.
In this context she further said that in Sri Lanka, the Government through its “Vision 2025 : A Country Enriched” policy document, has now launched a comprehensive framework to alleviate poverty, address regional disparities within the country, and promote prosperity to all its people, with a view to ensuring the holistic realization of Human Rights while implementing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. In addition, the Sustainable Development Act has been enacted by the Parliament in October 2017, and Sri Lanka will share its experience during the June 2018 High Level Political Forum (HLPF) of the ECOSOC in New York, by submitting its National Voluntary Review (NVR), on “Transformation towards Sustainable Resilient Societies”.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to UN in Geneva
24th April 2018
“Building a better and secure future for all is a shared call that we can shirk only at our own peril”, stated Ambassador A.L.A.Azeez, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, addressing the Second Preparatory Committee Meeting of State Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) today.
Ambassador Azeez highlighted the importance of the NPT as the global regime for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament that called for a balanced and non-discriminatory approach to building international peace and security. He stressed that the non-proliferation treaty regime should be taken forward, while promoting and safe guarding the economic development prospects for all, through equal access to the technology advancing peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
He also called upon the State Parties to seriously address the prevalent dichotomy between the lack of progress in disarmament and increasing emphasis and efforts on non-proliferation, urging them to “manifest their support for, and investment in, disarmament training and education provided by the UN and other organizations” .
The Second Preparatory Meeting that began its deliberations on 23rd April 2018 in Geneva would continue until 4th May 2018 and is aimed to help evolve a negotiated outcome at the NPT Review Conference to be held in New York in April/May 2020.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to UN in Geneva
24th April 2018
The window of opportunity that was opened up, and the positive spirit generated in moving forward the substantive work in the Conference of Disarmament (CD) with the adoption of Decision 2119 under the Presidency of Sri Lanka, ’can be carried through to creatively looking at ways and means of arriving at a negotiated outcome at the 2020 NPT Review Conference,’ said Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva. He made these remarks chairing a panel session titled ‘ Reviving the NPT and Conference on Disarmament: Means and Processes to Ensure Success’ at the Framework Forum Roundtable, co-organized in Geneva on 19th April 2018, by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and several other organizations.
Echoing the words of the UN Secretary General who stated that “it is time to translate the Decision into resumption of negotiations”, Ambassador Azeez added “this development has come up at a critical time when there is growing impatience among the non-proliferation and disarmament community over the long spell of ‘inaction’, spanning over two decades”.
Noting that the second round of consultations of the parties to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, are to commence next week in Geneva, to prepare for the NPT review in 2020, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative remarked “While non-proliferation should receive a clear focus along with a pronounced emphasis on peaceful use of nuclear energy, the advancement of these objectives would be effective and meaningful when sustained efforts towards the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons follow in tandem”. He said “it was time to be imaginative, yet pragmatic”.
Mr. Sico van der Meer, Clingendal Institute, the Netherlands, and Ms. Tarja Cronberg, Chair,Middle Powers Initiative, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute(SIPRI), joined this panel as speakers addressed ‘How to make the NPT RevCom in 2020 a success?’ and ‘Long term reform needs for the NPT survival?’ respectively.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
20 April 2018
The Impact of Technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Achieving the SDGs is Becoming Apparent
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 and its 169 targets, the CDA a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to UN, Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya said addressing the Meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts (GCE) on Emerging Technologies in the areas of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) held in Geneva on 9th April 2018. The use of AI to automate UNDP’s Rapid Integrated Assessment (RIA) systems, which helps in determining a country’s readiness for implementation of the Global Development Agenda, and in building interlinkages among national and sectoral policies is clearly, among one of the many positive narratives of the peaceful application of AI, she noted.
Highlighting that there are several challenges before the GGE, Sri Lanka stated that a careful study of different definitions available so far, and an objective consideration of the language used in different national defence doctrines could serve as the first step in finding a ‘working definition’ for LAWS. The degree to which AI has already been built into military weapons systems and the accepted degree of autonomy related to the critical functions of these weapons, the ‘predictability’ of their functions and the ‘reliability’ of its operations under changing conditions during a conflict is another challenge. Also, the difficulty of the ‘attribution of accountability’ is getting blur with the use of AI in military weapons systems. Nevertheless, the test of public conscience and laws of humanity as referred to in the Martens Clause should guide the Member States, even if any IHL principles are founded to be inapplicable, Sri Lanka stated.
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to UN in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha has said "Sri Lanka makes its best contributions to the international community when it leads from the centre", rather than positioning itself in a manner "either to be taken for granted, or to remain isolated".
The Ambassador who this week relinquishes his tour of duty as Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, made this observation in his farewell address to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) on 27th March 2018, where last month under Sri Lanka's Presidency, the Conference unanimously adopted Decision CD/2119 setting up 5 subsidiary bodies to commence substantive work. Addressing the High-Level Segment of the CD, UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcoming this Decision stated, “I believe you are off to the best start in nearly two decades, and I look forward to building on this new momentum”.
Recalling that for long years Sri Lanka had been an active player in the field of disarmament, Ambassador Aryasinha expressed satisfaction that Sri Lanka was once again able to make a meaningful contribution through CD/2119 during its recent Presidency, notwithstanding the challenging global environment we live in today. He said the decision "was a balance between flexibility and safeguards, and it offered a framework for a more focused and continued debate on all core issues on the CD agenda. “I believe this has the potential of being an irreversible first step in getting the CD back to work, and in asserting its credibility as the single multilateral forum for negotiating disarmament treaties" he said.