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| Sunday, 18 August 2002 |
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Fulfilling aspirations of all minorities The Statement by Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Head of delegation of Sri Lanka to the Sub Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Agenda item 5 (C) Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, August 2002 An overwhelming majority of countries today are multi-ethnic and multi cultural. Therefore minority issues, or rather the question pluralism, are as important as any other aspect of human rights and require continuing attention in all relevant UN fora. Situations of minorities often contribute towards violent internal conflicts in countries the world over. In such situations underlying grievances are based mostly on economic, social and cultural phenomena rooted in the mists of history and sometimes legend. In some instances views and fears of majority populations with minority complexes compound issues pertaining to minorities. In this regard, it is necessary to guard against racism, and intolerant chauvinism and sectarianism. These tendencies, if left unattended, could easily degenerate into violence and terrorism. In this context, some more work is needed for standard setting and their implementation for the benefit of all minority communities irrespective of whether they are ethnic, religious or linguistic. Sri Lanka therefore considers the work of the Working Group on Minorities as a very useful tool in addressing the issues relevant to minority communities. In this regard, the recommendations made in the report of the 8th session of the Working Group on Minorities have to be commended. In particular the recommendation to explore the possibilities of establishing a special procedure mechanism on the rights of persons belonging to minorities, such as a Special Rapporteur or a Special Representative is timely. This initiative to create a UN special mechanism to address minority issues is welcome. However, such a mechanism should not duplicate the work already being done by existing special procedure mechanisms and the Working Group on Minorities. Therefore, it is essential for such a mechanism to have a clear mandate so that its functions can contribute effectively to the promotion and protection of the rights of all minorities. We also welcome the recommendation to hold a special session of the Working Group to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities. Indeed Sri Lanka has been one of the original co-sponsors of this important declaration. We also welcome the proposal to hold a seminar on minority approaches in the Asian context. The recommended theme of the seminar "Recognition of minorities in law and practice", would, no doubt, serve the purpose of reviewing progress after ten years of adopting the declaration. Similarly, the holding of such seminars on minority issues in other regions of the world would, in our view, enable us to obtain a more comprehensive account of the situations involving minorities in all regions of the world. We are also pleased to observe that the drafting of a code of conduct on the implementation of the Declaration on Minorities, would be one of the main tasks of the next session of the Working Group and we look forward to contribute towards this objective. The comments made by the independent experts of this Sub Commission on the on-going peace process in Sri Lanka is both appreciated and recognised. The Government of Sri Lanka at present is making every endeavour to obtain a peaceful solution to the grievances of all minorities in Sri Lanka so that all communities will be able to fulfil their aspirations in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural setting. |
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