There is no doubt, as observed by Director General Grossi, that as we marked the seventieth anniversary of United States President Dwight Eisenhower’s famous “atoms for peace” speech last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remained as relevant as ever through its indispensable work …
Sri Lanka felicitates Mr. Philemon Yang of Cameroon on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session.
Against the background of global turmoil, setbacks and transformations, the aspirations of this year’s session of the Assembly to a better global future resonate wi…
Today the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in peril. We know where we need to be and how we need to progress. The 2030
We are gathered here today to commit to 56 multilateral solutions that address the needs of our people, both now and in generations to come. The Pact for the Future (res…
This morning, Executive Secretary Floyd of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty Organization effectively presented the need for the elimination of nuclear testing.
We are all gathered here today with a deep sense of responsibility on the critical issue of nuclear weapons and their testing, wh…
May I thank you, Mr. President, for the leadership made available to us during your tenure and for the guidance and manifest humanity with which you approached your onerous duties, which Sri Lanka endorses as exemplary. May I also thank the co-Chairs for their tireless efforts in putting together a …
It was the great Mahatma who said that a nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the souls of its people. We meet here today at the important juncture of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic resolution 53/243, whereby the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace was ad…
Examining the use of the veto power is not an easy undertaking. First of all, objective analysis is hampered by the fact that States often fail to provide clarification on their exact motives for casting a vote. Even when States give a public explanation, it does not necessarily correspond to the re…
I thank the President of the General Assembly for convening this meeting.
General Douglas MacArthur had this to say:
“Until a more perfect time for all, the United Nations Charter is our best hope for a more perfect world, and why the United Nations is the Vatican of Hope and the permanent represe…
Sri Lanka gives high priority to the strict application of laws against the production, distribution, possession and illicit manufacture of and trafficking in synthetic drugs. It must be accepted without demur that easy access to such illicit drugs leads to increased abuse, a threat to public order …
It is said that we need a stronger United Nations in order to build a resilient world. The work of making the Organization efficient, effective and accountable must therefore continue, together with efforts to reform the Security Council, revitalize the General Assembly and strengthen the Economic a…
My delegation concurs with the view of Mr. Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that the IAEA is a formidable institution that deals with issues of war, peace, human health, energy, food and water, all of which are fundamental concerns of all human beings. D…
Sri Lanka voted in favour of resolution 78/7, entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.” In keeping with past practice, the General Assembly adopted by an overwhelming majority the call to lift the blockade aga…
I wish to go on the record once again with regard to our voting intention on the inclusion of this item. I informed the Secretariat that our vote on the inclusion of an agenda item on Ukraine in the General Committee was intended to be an abstention.
It would not be wrong to say that the use and testing of nuclear weapons represent one of the most serious threats to the community of nations and our future generations. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and their long-lasting effects remind all of us of the devastating conseque…
It has been said that we know that the Security Council can continue to work amid internal fractures, and that the permanent members want it to continue working in many cases. And even if formal reforms are perhaps unlikely, we know the Security
Council can change because it has been accommodating …
We thank the Secretary- General for his report (A/77/910) on the responsibility to protect (R2P) and its application in the context of sustainable development, which I thought was commendable. However, in an ideal world, all States would undoubtedly take responsibility to protect their populations. …
Let me extend my delegation’s warmest congratulations to you, Sir, on convening this meeting on the eighth review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Allow me to assure you of my delegation’s full support and cooperation in ensuring that the Strategy provides an appropriate and …
It was Martin Luther King, Jr. who said,
“Although we have learned to enjoy the freedom of the skies and fearlessly navigate the seas, we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers and sisters of one human family. Our abundance has brought us neither peace of mind nor serenity o…
The primary focus of resolution 77/272 is to remind ourselves about the cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at a global inflection point, as we have regularly observed, when the cry of the times is for peace.
We cannot afford to…
My delegation is of the considered view that the thematic substance of resolution 77/204, entitled “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, is of great impo…
