We Need Time And Space, Mr President

By Mahinda Samarasinghe -February 27, 2013

Mahinda Samarasinghe

Mr President,

It is an honour and a pleasure to address this august Council today. On behalf of my delegation, let me felicitate you upon your assumption of the Presidency and offer our support to you in the discharge of your office during your tenure. As with your distinguished predecessors, we are confident of working together in ensuring that the objectives of the Council are met.

At the conclusion of Sri Lanka’s universal periodic review (UPR) last November, I informed the Working Group that we would continue our practice of sharing with the Council our ongoing progress towards peace and normality. We are present here today to share that progress. Though faced with skepticism and even hostile criticism from some quarters, Sri Lanka has continued to engage its interlocutors in a spirit of openness, candour and constructive dialogue.

Let me now briefly address some of the highlights of our achievements.

Three and a quarter years ago Sri Lanka emerged from a long-drawn out conflict to eliminate terrorism, successfully conducting a humanitarian operation to free a captive population, with a view to bringing about lasting stability, peace and prosperity that had eluded our nation’s people for nearly three decades. In the aftermath of this operation it was established, beyond doubt that the Sri Lankan Government was doing its utmost to continue promoting and protecting human rights of all citizens. The Reconstruction, Resettlement, Rehabilitation, Reintegration, and Reconciliation programme (known as 5R), demonstrates that Sri Lanka today is well on the path to usher in an era of sustainable development, social progress and a durable peace.

Reconstruction includes restoration of physical and social infrastructure, strengthening of civil administration, provision of livelihood support and housing. As a result, a 27% growth rate has been recorded in the Northern Province the former theatre of conflict, while Sri Lanka’s overall GDP recorded around 8% growth in 2011.

The reconstruction of the Northern railway line which was totally destroyed by the LTTE is currently under way. This involves re-laying of the entire railway line stretching 110 miles (177 Km) from Vavuniya to Kankasanthurai. It is expected that this will be completed by the end of 2015 thus restoring a main artery of transport, commerce, ease of movement and communication between the previously sundered people of the north and their southern brethren.

Unparalleled progress has been made in areas such as the resettlement of internally displaced persons, facilitated by demining. By the time the LTTE was finally defeated in May 2009, over 295,000 IDPs displaced after April 2008 were in the care of the Government. A Presidential Task Force for Reconstruction and Resettlement was appointed to expedite IDP resettlement and reconstruction in parallel with the demining efforts in the North. While every effort was being made to resettle persons in their original habitat, in instances in which this is not possible, they were given alternate land.

The last batch of the IDPs was resettled in their villages in Mullaitivu on 24 September 2012. 1,186 persons from 361 families were thus resettled. With this last batch of IDPs, the Government has resettled a total of 242,449 IDPs. A further 28,398 have chosen to live with host families in various parts of the country. A batch of about 200 families living with host families has been resettled with their consent in their original habitat in Mullaithivu in September 2012. At the conclusion of resettlement, 7,264 IDPs had left the camps on various grounds and did not return while a further 1,380 sought admission to hospitals. The resettlement of the final batch of IDPs marks a day of historic significance as the resettlement is now complete and there are no more IDPs or IDP camps in the island. This makes the achievement reached within the short period of three years, remarkable when compared with similar situations in other parts of the world.

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