The 16th Meeting of States Parties to the Anti – Personnel Mines Ban Convention welcomed Sri Lanka on Monday 18th December 2017 as the newly joined 163rd State Party to the Convention, following the depositing of the Instrument of Accession on 13th December 2017 in New York.
“We welcome Sri Lanka to this ever growing movement,” said H.E. Thomas Hajnoczi Ambassador of Austria and Head of the Department of Disarmament at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is Presiding over the 16th Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the Convention held in Vienna from 18-21 December 2017. The meeting also coincides with the 20th Anniversary of the signing of the Convention.
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has become the 163th State Party to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the landmark international treaty that bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.
Sri Lanka officials deposited the accession instrument at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 13 December joining the 80% of the world’s states that have undertaken to “never, under any circumstance use, produce, stockpile or transfer anti-personnel mines”, and do their utmost to assist the victims and survivors of these weapons.
“We welcome Sri Lanka to this ever growing movement,” said H.E. Thomas Hajnoczi Ambassador of Austria and Head of the Department of Disarmament at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is presiding over the Convention.
Sri Lanka has called for an urgent review of the composition of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to better reflect the geographical distribution, the importance of chemical industry, and the political and security interests of Member States in the contemporary world.
Addressing the 22nd Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague, last Wednesday (29th November 2017), the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to The Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the OPCW, Mr A.M.J. Sadiq made this call while delivering the National Statement on behalf of Sri Lanka. Elaborating further, Ambassador Sadiq noted that since the establishment of the OPCW twenty years ago, there have been major positive developments of economic and geo-political significance in Asia, Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean. Today, around 84% of the world population and 73 % of Member States of the OPCW belong to these regions.
Sri Lanka participated in the 7th Meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) entered into force in August 2010, held in Geneva on 4-6 September 2017, which opened today.
The attached statement was delivered by Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha.
Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is an international treaty that addresses the humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm to civilians caused by cluster munitions, through a categorical prohibition and a framework for action. The Convention prohibits all use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions. In addition, it establishes a framework for cooperation and assistance to ensure adequate care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk reduction education and destruction of stockpiles.
Sri Lanka’s delegation included Major General D S Weeraman psc, Brigadier W A N M Weerasinghe RSP USP and Ms. Dulmini Dahanayake, Second Secretary of the Sri Lanka Permanent Mission in Geneva.
4 September 2017
Sri Lanka Permanent Mission
Geneva
Sri Lanka said that it supports the establishment of a Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) in 2017, within the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and to elevate the dialogue on LAWS to a State –driven formal process.
- Statement by Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Special Co-ordinator on the Improved and Effective Functioning of the Conference on Disarmament at the Plenary of the Conference on Disarmament: 22 August 2002
- Statement by Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Head of Delegation of Sri Lanka to the Conference on Disarmament: 27 June 2002
- Statement by Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Special Co-ordinator on the Improved and Effective Functioning of the Conference on Disarmament: 28 August 2001