A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, July 10, 2017
After A Decade Sri Lanka Entered Into The World Of Disarmament With The Nuclear Ban Treaty
The 7th of
July 2017 was a historical day for the world and Sri Lanka. At the UN
in New York 122 nations voted and this included of Sri Lanka, adopting the first ever Nuclear Ban Treaty (NBT).
We are fortunate to see that finally the world has realized the need to
ban the nuclear bomb after seeing the devastating impact in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki on humanity and nature even after 70 years. The nuclear
bombs were used to attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki instantly killing
hundreds of thousands humans and causing severe damage to the natural
environment. In the aftermath of it many generations suffered due to the
impact of radiation and some are still suffering from it.
After
seeing the devastation that occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in
1945, various global initiatives on nuclear weapons such as Conventions
came into effect for banning the testing, non-proliferation and not
losing it to terrorist groups. Conventions were created such as the
Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space
and Under Water (1963), the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the
Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water (1963), the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (1996), the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (1968) and the International Convention for the
Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005).
But
none of above conventions were for the ban of nuclear weapons or worked
towards eliminating them from the earth. The world has witnessed that
up until, now the States and Non-States Parties to the above
nuclear-related conventions have been accumulating and testing various
types of modern advanced nuclear weapons. Such weapons are a thousand
times in advance of the previous nuclear bombs which were used for
attacking Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US. If a nuclear war took place
in the present day, one will be unable to assess the level of damage it
will cause to humans and nature due to its indiscriminatory nature and
plethora of power the current nuclear weapons possess now.
The
growing influence of civil society on international peace around the
world was witnessed in the last few decades taking of the leadership to
ban such weapons. In recent history they campaigned to ban certain
indiscriminatory weapons and supported the regulating of conventional
weapons at the UN. Due to successful campaigns led by civil society it
was able to give leadership to ban Anti-Personnel
Landmines through the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention – APMBC (1997)
and Cluster Bombs through the Convention on Cluster Munitions – CCM
(2008) and regulating of conventional weapons through the Arms Trade
Treaty – ATT (2013). In addition to this the first human rights
convention the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities – UNCRPD (2007), came to the world mainly due fact that
APMBC had inspired further efforts at the international level to protect
and promote the rights of persons with disabilities. Civil society
played a key role in the UNCRPD negotiations.
The
APMBC, CCM, ATT and CRPD are the most successful Conventions today at
the UN, mainly due to the fact that the governments, UN agencies and
civil societies are closely working together to achieve the objectives
of the Conventions. Most recently, civil society successfully led the
campaign to ban nuclear weapons and engaged in negotiations with
governments and UN agencies and was able to give birth successfully to
the Nuclear Ban Treaty – NBT (2017) this month with 122 countries voting
for it. This legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapon
marks a turning point for nuclear weapons in the future.
Even
though Sri Lanka is not a nuclear power, the country has been in the
forefront for nuclear and other disarmament efforts. Sri Lanka has been a
signatory for the above-mentioned nuclear related and other
Conventions. Sri Lanka took the leadership from the inception, when
negotiations and active engagement with such Conventions throughout. At
one time Sri Lanka was called the “Champion of Disarmament” which got
positive global attention for the country, and at that time it was the
brand name for Sri Lanka among the international disarmament community.
Sri
Lanka always acted as a neutral nation, following non-aligned foreign
policy to achieve this success. This has not badly impacted on the
relations with neighboring nuclear powers India, Pakistan and also with
the USA, Russia and China. These countries are not the States Parties to
the above nuclear related and some of the other Conventions. But Sri
Lanka never followed them and stood up as a strong sovereign state in the region.
From
2005 onwards, Sri Lanka did not accede to any disarmament Conventions
claiming that the country was engaged with protracted armed conflict
with the LTTE until 2009. Several countries during war time have acceded
to the above Conventions to gain benefits and this includes support of
world peace initiatives. Even after the war Sri Lanka did not accede to
any disarmament Conventions but the previous government had agreed to
accede to humanitarian disarmament conventions like the APMBC and CCM.
But they were not able to accede to any disarmament Conventions and were
not engaged with the UN and the international community taking some
stance.