Mangala briefs UN community on Lanka’s post conflict peace building mechanisms

Minister of Foreign Affairs this week briefed the international community on Sri Lanka’s Post Conflict Peace Building mechanisms, and the importance of development stating that all stakeholders must feel that their development was being cared for and their lives were improving,a statement from the ministry said.

Mangala Samaraweera concluded a three day visit to New York to attend the UNDP 50th Anniversary Ministerial meeting held at the UN Headquarters, from the 21st-24th of February.

He said that the relationship between peace and development was holistic and dynamic, and the faster the peace dividend the greater and faster the likelihood of a lasting peace.

The Minister’s visit commenced with a courtesy call on Ms. Helen Clark, Administrator of the UNDP, where he underscored the strong partnership between the organization and the Sri Lankan Government and its people that had existed since the 1960s. Discussions included ways and means of enhancing this cooperative relationship, to meet the development challenges in Sri Lanka’s current peacebuilding environment.

Mr. Samaraweera also met with Mr. Jeffrey Feltman, United Nations Under-Secretary General at the Department of Political Affairs, to discuss current peace building mechanisms and ongoing efforts to enhance Sri Lanka’s peacekeeping presence around the world.

He said that Sri Lanka’s social and political leaders by and large, had created the conditions where these grievances were transformed into inter-communal resentment and feelings of discrimination and unfair treatment, by failing to address and manage the grievances of Sri Lanka’s constituent communities.

The Minister noted that it was the failure to manage such justifiable grievances that led to conflict and violence, but that Sri Lanka has learnt over time. He elaborated on Sri Lanka’s transitional justice mechanisms stating that an architecture addressing the four areas of truth seeking, justice, reparations and non-recurrence is already underway, through a national consultative process.

During his visit, he also met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Mr. Borge Brende, and the Minister for Strategic Development and Nordic Cooperation of Sweden, Ms. Kristina Persson to discuss matters of mutual interest.

The Minister further held meetings with the Permanent Representative of the USA to the United Nations, Ambassador Samantha Power, and Deputy Permanent Representative Ambassador Michele Sison.