FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks with Embassy Colombo Staff
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 3, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: (Applause.) Can I just -- really, thank you. Thank you. Thank you and good morning. You love it. I’m just getting at it, just (inaudible). It’s really nice to see all of you. Kids, thank you for coming out. How are you? You all look fabulous. You look terrific. No school today, right? (Laughter.) Yay. (Laughter.) That’s really, really good. Anyway.
Well, I’m really happy to see all of you. Thank you. And, Marines, thank you very much. Semper Fi, and we appreciate your service enormously. I didn’t know we had so many Marines out here. I just was with four of them down there. What’s the complement, about 12?
PARTICIPANT: Seven, sir.
SECRETARY KERRY: How many?
PARTICIPANT: Seven, sir.
SECRETARY KERRY: Seven in all. All right. Well, thank you very much for what you do and your service.
And thank you all very, very much. It’s really nice to be here. I’m enormously excited to be in Sri Lanka for the first time, and I wasn’t aware, actually, when I came out here that it had been so long since there had been an official visit by a Secretary of State. I know Colin Powell came through during the time of the tsunami very briefly for a few hours. But it was a pleasure for me yesterday to be able to spend time with the new leadership and get a sense of the excitement about the future for Sri Lanka and the end of so many years of war, so many years of this island nation being torn apart, and now coming together. And I just met this morning with some of the Tamil leaders, which was really interesting to hear them share their vision for a united, peaceful Sri Lanka even though there are difficult issues still to get over.
I want to thank all of you. I particularly want to thank – we have about 417 local employees. Could you all raise your hands, all the local employees? Well, we can’t do this without you in any way at all, so thank you very, very, very much. (Applause.) And there’s one person in particular. Is Niranjan Fonseka here? Niranjan, come up here for a minute. Come here; I’m going to embarrass you. This guy – (applause ) – he not only (inaudible) different town (inaudible) driving through over here, but he has worked here for more than 30 years, and we want to say thank you to, friend. Thank you so much. Really, really appreciate it. Thank you, Niranjan. (Applause.)
I want to thank Drew for the tremendous job that he’s doing. He’s had more than 30 years of service and he’s been in a lot of different places – Darfur and Tikrit, in Iraq, and Kabul. So I think it’s about time he got an ocean-front view and – (laughter) – (inaudible). It’s not a bad deal, right?
MR. MANN: It’s not so bad.
SECRETARY KERRY: Anyway, let me just say that I want to thank all of you. I really do. There is a reason that we raise(inaudible) flag every single day opposite Temple Trees and that all of you do what you do here, which is because we believe in the future of democracy, of stability, and the opportunity for people in other countries to be able to live better lives free from persecution and free from dictatorship, and most importantly, just able to share in the global community’s aspirations for everybody – for all human kind. And the United States is very proud – I’m really proud as Secretary of State – to touch down in various countries and be able to meet you and get a chance to see the people who – the local appointees, the Foreign Service officers, the civil servants, temporary duty, various agencies – all come together to help promote values and interests of our country, but happily, values and interests that match those of so many people in so many parts of the world.
And I’ve got to tell you, I had the privilege of running for president and running around the country, and I met so many people in so many parts of America who contribute as citizens to the building of our country. And I have to tell you, not everybody could tell me they were as satisfied with the job that they had as the people I meet who get to get up every morning and go to work and make life better for other people, and work to carry their country’s interests, and work to represent their nation. And in many cases, those of you who are American, when you meet somebody, you’re an ambassador and you are perhaps the only face of America somebody will meet at that particular moment or maybe for the rest of their life. How you engage with them, what you say, how you carry yourself, what you do is critical to the opinions that people will form about who we are and what we care about.
So whether it’s the granting of the visa, or it’s working out a problem to reunite somebody with their family, or it’s helping somebody find the medical care that they need, or helping to bring people together to help resolve conflict and war, all of those things contribute to the building of community and to the building of the relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States of America.
So I want to say thank you on behalf of our country. I hope you feel good about what you’re doing, because you should. And it’s – I see our assistant secretary. Let me get our assistant secretary up here, Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal. (Applause.) And she does a great job for all of us. And she’s been passionate about making sure that I got out here at some point, and now that I’ve been here I just want to come back and stay longer and get a chance to see (inaudible). (Applause.)
So how many kids do we have here? Kids, come on up here. Come up here and say hi to me. Come here. We’re going to get everybody up here. Come on up here. How are you? What’s your name?
CHILD: Sidney.
SECRETARY KERRY: Sidney, how old are you?
CHILD: Ten.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good. All right, 10. She’s one year younger than I was when my dad went into the Foreign Service and packed my bags and I went off to school in another country. And I said, “Where am I? I don’t know what’s going on.” You having fun? Come on up, guys. Come on up, everybody. You all look so good, I want to show you off. (Laughter.) How are you? What’s your name?
CHILD: Keenan.
SECRETARY KERRY: Keenan, how you doing? How old are you?
CHILD: Eight.
SECRETARY KERRY: Eight. Come on over here, everybody. So everybody get up here, I want a photograph with all of you. You guys don’t want to come up? No? Okay. I don’t blame you; I’d be shy too. Come on up. Who’s the oldest person here? Anybody 11? Nobody’s 11, so 10 is the oldest. Okay. How do you like living here? Do you like living here?
CHILD: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY KERRY: What?
CHILD: What’s (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: Do you like living here? Do you love it here?
CHILD: Yeah.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good. Okay. Right answer. (Laughter.) I’m standing here just – anyway. And how do you – do you like school? Are you learning a language? Good. What can you say? (Laughter.) I don’t want to embarrass. I’m sorry. (Laughter.) Who wants to say something? Anybody want to say something in – ooh, can you speak any of the language?
CHILD: A little bit of Spanish and French. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Good for you. How about you, what are you learning?
CHILD: French.
SECRETARY KERRY: French, all right. Yeah, a lot of French. That’s incredible. Hello. How are you? So come on over here, everybody. All the kids, we’re going to pose for a big photograph.
Here’s our photographer here and he’s going to take a picture. Everybody get in here. Big smile. There you are. Turn around. All right. How about a big hand for these kids, guys? (Applause.) Thank you again.
I want you to know you’re very, very lucky, and whatever you do in the rest of your life, living in somebody else’s country and getting to know another culture and another history is something that will serve you well for the rest of your lives, so you should really enjoy it.
Now, quickly before I have to go. I have to go to the airport because I’ve got to fly to Nairobi and I want to have a chance to shake hands and say hello to everybody. Profoundly, from President Obama, from myself, from our country, to all of you local employees, again: thank you for helping our country be able to tell your country who we are; and thank you to everybody else who serves in our Foreign Service, Civil Service or in any way whatsoever. We’re deeply grateful to you.
I want you to know this is a very, very complicated time in the world, and all of the things that we could expect almost automatically during the Cold War – because we grew accustomed to it and because it was simpler, sort of East-West and the big divide of communism and freedom, democracy – that’s been far more complicated now by sectarian divisions, religious divisions, by many forces we’ve released as a result of the freedom that has come to countries, but also as a result of the remarkable level of communications that takes place today. Look at all these mobile devices that are pointing at me now. (Laughter.) I don’t know how many of you are going to tweet or Instagram or do something, but that didn’t exist 10 years ago. And so people now tune in instantaneously. Everybody is a reporter. You can put something up on YouTube and the rest of the world sees it. So there’s so much information coming at people nowadays, it’s hard to manage. It makes things look a little more disorderly in many ways.
So we have to work even harder to get facts to people, to get real choices to people and begin to be able to build consensus around commonsense decisions about how you make a country stronger and how you bring people together, how you resolve differences. And in many cases, because of these communications today, differences are just magnified so much more that, in fact, they may – some of the same things may have existed 20 or 30 years ago, but you didn’t read about them instantaneously. You didn’t see them on a 24-hour cable television show. And so the intensity with which this comes at people changes people’s views – not all for the better, may I say.
So that’s the struggle: How do we break through with commonsense choices, with the opportunities that we want to give people so they can sense that they have actually some control over their lives and some input to their own governments? That’s the great struggle today, and I am personally very, very grateful to all of you for being a part of it. Thank you and God bless. Thank you.
Showing posts with label SRI LANKA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SRI LANKA. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S PRESS AVAILABILITY IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Press Availability in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good evening, everybody. Thank you for being patient; I appreciate it. So let me begin by thanking our very gracious host today. I’m very grateful to the president, the foreign minister, the prime minister for their generous welcome. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, and Foreign Minister Samaraweera – each of them were very optimistic and hopeful about the possibilities of our cooperation going forward. And I was really delighted to be surrounded by their energy and their focus on delivering on the promises they’ve made and the hopes of people that were expressed in the historic election that took place. I’m also very pleased to be here because the – this is an island nation of extraordinary beauty, remarkable culture, extraordinary people. And I wish especially after my brief visit to the temple that I would’ve had more time to enjoy all of that diversity, particularly at this moment of the holiday which is taking place and being celebrated tomorrow.
It’s also the Vesak Poya holiday – I gather the lanterns are all lit and held, and it’s a sight to behold. But maybe tonight we’ll be able to sneak out and catch a few people getting ready for tomorrow.
This is my first visit here and it’s a privilege to be able to come at this critical moment of transition, and it’s the first visit by an American Secretary of State since Colin Powell was here during the tsunami very briefly, and the first official visit in which all of the ministers and everybody have been part of meetings, and not been able to spend time since a Secretary of State 43 years ago. So it’s an especially opportune moment to strengthen the ties between our countries.
Now, before I begin, I want to just say a quick word, if I may, about the situation in Nepal. The devastation caused by the April 25th earthquake remains very much on our minds. I called our ambassador yesterday and had a good conversation with him about the efforts of all of our embassy personnel and local employees, many of whom literally had to shift to the embassy building, which is earthquake resistant, and live there for several days and eat there and work out of there. They’ve been doing a very capable and courageous job of working with the influx of rescuers and others, and we are working now very hard to help get additional assistance there. Obviously, the death toll has kept rising, and everybody has seen on television the horrendous images of children and families torn about, homes absolutely destroyed, the entire community ripped apart. And I think that we all know that rebuilding is going to take quite some period of time and an extraordinary amount of effort.
It is heart-rendering, however – it is really encouraging to see the way in which Sri Lanka and many other countries in the region – India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and others – are all coming together to support Nepal during this crisis. And the United States is intending on doing its part to try to be helpful. I think to date we put in some $22.5 million. USAID has also deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team. An additional urban Search and Rescue Team and accompanying disaster experts are assisting with the assessments of the situation. And we stand ready to provide additional assistance and work with all of the countries in the region.
Tragedies of this magnitude underscore in many ways that in the 21st century, next door is everywhere. And we all have a stake in everybody else’s success. And I want to congratulate the people of Sri Lanka for their steps to that end. Let me come back to Sri Lanka for a moment. The elections that took place on January 8th were really extraordinary. And the election commissioner, the civil servants, the police and security officials all deserve an enormous amount of credit for ensuring a free and fair election. But most of all, I want to congratulate on behalf of the American people the citizens, the people of Sri Lanka who turned out in record numbers from all corners of the country in order to reclaim Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and an independent civil society.
I’m told there is a Sri Lankan proverb that says “wisdom can be found when traveling.” And it was the quest for knowledge and information that brought me here and a discussion with senior leaders today. And I think I heard some wisdom. The president, the prime minister, the foreign minister and I covered a lot of ground over the course of the day – economic assistance, economic development, the attraction of foreign investment, the reform process, the reconciliation process, regional issues, the situation in the Maldives – many different issues. But we had a particular focus on the government’s reform and reconciliation agenda.
As I outlined in my speech this afternoon, reconciliation is a difficult task with many components. And I urged the foreign minister to work with the ICRC – International Red Cross – and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and to search for answers wherever they may lead, and however painful in some cases the truth may be. They talked to me about a truth commission and other efforts, developing the process, working the UN. And I know they are really deeply committed to working this through. The foreign minister and I agreed that the voices of civil society are essential to secure a lasting peace. And that also includes particularly the voices of women.
The foreign minister and I also discussed the government’s effort to strengthen Sri Lanka’s judiciary. Now, this is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. And these reforms are also difficult, but they’re also essential. The prime minister summed up the challenge when he said: “The best way to avoid a relapse into conflict and arbitrary rule is to ensure that Sri Lanka’s leaders are held accountable through representative institutions.” And we could not agree more.
That’s why the United States is ready to help asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. It’s why we continue to urge the government to release remaining political prisoners. And it’s why we’re prepared to furnish whatever legal and technical assistance Sri Lanka may need as it moves down this path in the days ahead.
Finally, we also reviewed important regional issues, as I mentioned a moment ago, such as maritime security, the economic integration of the region, clean energy, climate change, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor, which will connect South to Southeast Asia and spur sustainable development in both regions.
So Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Institutions of governance are gaining strength, but further progress needs to be made. No part of this transition will be easy. But with a clear vision and firm commitment, I am absolutely confident that Sri Lanka will keep moving forward and the United States looks forward to being at its side as it does.
I’d be delighted to take a couple questions.
MS HARF: Is this on? Okay, there we go. The first question is from Ms. Manjula of the Sunday Observer. There’s your mike.
QUESTION: I’m Manjula. I’m with the Sunday Observer. (Inaudible) see your visit as interference --
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you hold it a little closer so it will be clear? Thank you.
QUESTION: Gladly. Question: Anyone see your visit as interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs?
SECRETARY KERRY: I’m delighted to answer that question for the simple reason that I came at the invitation of the prime minister, the president, and the foreign minister, who visited me specifically in Washington to lay out many of these challenges and to ask me if I would pay a visit and help – if our government would help Sri Lanka on this journey. The second reason why it is not is that everything that we are talking about, we are offering, not demanding. Everything that we have suggested is exactly that – a suggestion. And I think if you heard my speech today, I spoke with great respect and great sensitivity to the path that Sri Lankans have chosen. This is up to Sri Lankans, not us. And I also, thirdly, reiterated to every minister I met with and the president that the United States is not here to ask Sri Lanka to align with anyone, to refuse to have any other relationship or to involve itself somehow in other kinds of politics.
We welcome the strong relationship of Sri Lanka with any country in the world that Sri Lanka wants to have a relationship with. What we do care about is the democracy, that the people of Sri Lanka have asked for. And we came here to affirm the commonality of our values that tie us together, the commonality of our hopes and aspirations. And I think you would have to ask the foreign minister, the prime minister, and the president whether they viewed anything that was suggested today as interference, and I think they’d tell you no, it was welcome, and they look forward to the next visit; in fact, offered an invitation to President Obama to come as soon as he might be able to.
MS HARF: And the last question is from Rosiland Jordan with Al Jazeera English. The mike is right behind you.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I have one question. Is Yemen on the verge of becoming a failed state? And if not, what reassurances do you and others in the Administration have that it can survive the current crisis?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we don’t have an assurance yet. But I would not yet say that the verdict is in on what Yemen is going to be, because we are trying very hard, working with the UN, working with our friends in the region, particularly with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – we are working hard to secure a negotiated process through the UN which will bring the parties together, Yemenis, to negotiate the future of Yemen. And if that can happen, then it obviously has the opportunity to hold itself together, to resolve a way in which all of the interests within the country can be represented.
Many other countries have stated that it is their desire to see this political solution take place. Iran has publicly made suggestions that they’d like to see a negotiation, that they think it could be resolved through that, but would like to see it resolved that way. European countries – France, Germany, Britain, others – have all weighed in. The EU has suggested it needs to be resolved that way. So as long as that is yet untested and un-failed, I think all of us have hopes that Yemen can find a path forward.
Now, it’s not going to be easy; many things have to happen. We believe that one of those things is – and the Saudis have suggested that they would be prepared to (inaudible) humanitarian assistance in and want to do so. So hopefully the modality can be found to be able to get humanitarian assistance according to the Saudi thoughts on that in in a way that can alleviate the shortage of food, the shortage of fuel, the shortage of medicine, and then, using that time period to begin to open up the possibilities of a political resolution. That’s our hope. But we’re having discussions over the course of every day right now in order to push towards this. And our hope is that the UN process may be able to actually take hold before too long and we will continue to work on that as hard as we can.
MS HARF: Great. Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much.
Press Availability in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good evening, everybody. Thank you for being patient; I appreciate it. So let me begin by thanking our very gracious host today. I’m very grateful to the president, the foreign minister, the prime minister for their generous welcome. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, and Foreign Minister Samaraweera – each of them were very optimistic and hopeful about the possibilities of our cooperation going forward. And I was really delighted to be surrounded by their energy and their focus on delivering on the promises they’ve made and the hopes of people that were expressed in the historic election that took place. I’m also very pleased to be here because the – this is an island nation of extraordinary beauty, remarkable culture, extraordinary people. And I wish especially after my brief visit to the temple that I would’ve had more time to enjoy all of that diversity, particularly at this moment of the holiday which is taking place and being celebrated tomorrow.
It’s also the Vesak Poya holiday – I gather the lanterns are all lit and held, and it’s a sight to behold. But maybe tonight we’ll be able to sneak out and catch a few people getting ready for tomorrow.
This is my first visit here and it’s a privilege to be able to come at this critical moment of transition, and it’s the first visit by an American Secretary of State since Colin Powell was here during the tsunami very briefly, and the first official visit in which all of the ministers and everybody have been part of meetings, and not been able to spend time since a Secretary of State 43 years ago. So it’s an especially opportune moment to strengthen the ties between our countries.
Now, before I begin, I want to just say a quick word, if I may, about the situation in Nepal. The devastation caused by the April 25th earthquake remains very much on our minds. I called our ambassador yesterday and had a good conversation with him about the efforts of all of our embassy personnel and local employees, many of whom literally had to shift to the embassy building, which is earthquake resistant, and live there for several days and eat there and work out of there. They’ve been doing a very capable and courageous job of working with the influx of rescuers and others, and we are working now very hard to help get additional assistance there. Obviously, the death toll has kept rising, and everybody has seen on television the horrendous images of children and families torn about, homes absolutely destroyed, the entire community ripped apart. And I think that we all know that rebuilding is going to take quite some period of time and an extraordinary amount of effort.
It is heart-rendering, however – it is really encouraging to see the way in which Sri Lanka and many other countries in the region – India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and others – are all coming together to support Nepal during this crisis. And the United States is intending on doing its part to try to be helpful. I think to date we put in some $22.5 million. USAID has also deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team. An additional urban Search and Rescue Team and accompanying disaster experts are assisting with the assessments of the situation. And we stand ready to provide additional assistance and work with all of the countries in the region.
Tragedies of this magnitude underscore in many ways that in the 21st century, next door is everywhere. And we all have a stake in everybody else’s success. And I want to congratulate the people of Sri Lanka for their steps to that end. Let me come back to Sri Lanka for a moment. The elections that took place on January 8th were really extraordinary. And the election commissioner, the civil servants, the police and security officials all deserve an enormous amount of credit for ensuring a free and fair election. But most of all, I want to congratulate on behalf of the American people the citizens, the people of Sri Lanka who turned out in record numbers from all corners of the country in order to reclaim Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and an independent civil society.
I’m told there is a Sri Lankan proverb that says “wisdom can be found when traveling.” And it was the quest for knowledge and information that brought me here and a discussion with senior leaders today. And I think I heard some wisdom. The president, the prime minister, the foreign minister and I covered a lot of ground over the course of the day – economic assistance, economic development, the attraction of foreign investment, the reform process, the reconciliation process, regional issues, the situation in the Maldives – many different issues. But we had a particular focus on the government’s reform and reconciliation agenda.
As I outlined in my speech this afternoon, reconciliation is a difficult task with many components. And I urged the foreign minister to work with the ICRC – International Red Cross – and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and to search for answers wherever they may lead, and however painful in some cases the truth may be. They talked to me about a truth commission and other efforts, developing the process, working the UN. And I know they are really deeply committed to working this through. The foreign minister and I agreed that the voices of civil society are essential to secure a lasting peace. And that also includes particularly the voices of women.
The foreign minister and I also discussed the government’s effort to strengthen Sri Lanka’s judiciary. Now, this is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. And these reforms are also difficult, but they’re also essential. The prime minister summed up the challenge when he said: “The best way to avoid a relapse into conflict and arbitrary rule is to ensure that Sri Lanka’s leaders are held accountable through representative institutions.” And we could not agree more.
That’s why the United States is ready to help asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. It’s why we continue to urge the government to release remaining political prisoners. And it’s why we’re prepared to furnish whatever legal and technical assistance Sri Lanka may need as it moves down this path in the days ahead.
Finally, we also reviewed important regional issues, as I mentioned a moment ago, such as maritime security, the economic integration of the region, clean energy, climate change, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor, which will connect South to Southeast Asia and spur sustainable development in both regions.
So Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Institutions of governance are gaining strength, but further progress needs to be made. No part of this transition will be easy. But with a clear vision and firm commitment, I am absolutely confident that Sri Lanka will keep moving forward and the United States looks forward to being at its side as it does.
I’d be delighted to take a couple questions.
MS HARF: Is this on? Okay, there we go. The first question is from Ms. Manjula of the Sunday Observer. There’s your mike.
QUESTION: I’m Manjula. I’m with the Sunday Observer. (Inaudible) see your visit as interference --
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you hold it a little closer so it will be clear? Thank you.
QUESTION: Gladly. Question: Anyone see your visit as interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs?
SECRETARY KERRY: I’m delighted to answer that question for the simple reason that I came at the invitation of the prime minister, the president, and the foreign minister, who visited me specifically in Washington to lay out many of these challenges and to ask me if I would pay a visit and help – if our government would help Sri Lanka on this journey. The second reason why it is not is that everything that we are talking about, we are offering, not demanding. Everything that we have suggested is exactly that – a suggestion. And I think if you heard my speech today, I spoke with great respect and great sensitivity to the path that Sri Lankans have chosen. This is up to Sri Lankans, not us. And I also, thirdly, reiterated to every minister I met with and the president that the United States is not here to ask Sri Lanka to align with anyone, to refuse to have any other relationship or to involve itself somehow in other kinds of politics.
We welcome the strong relationship of Sri Lanka with any country in the world that Sri Lanka wants to have a relationship with. What we do care about is the democracy, that the people of Sri Lanka have asked for. And we came here to affirm the commonality of our values that tie us together, the commonality of our hopes and aspirations. And I think you would have to ask the foreign minister, the prime minister, and the president whether they viewed anything that was suggested today as interference, and I think they’d tell you no, it was welcome, and they look forward to the next visit; in fact, offered an invitation to President Obama to come as soon as he might be able to.
MS HARF: And the last question is from Rosiland Jordan with Al Jazeera English. The mike is right behind you.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I have one question. Is Yemen on the verge of becoming a failed state? And if not, what reassurances do you and others in the Administration have that it can survive the current crisis?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we don’t have an assurance yet. But I would not yet say that the verdict is in on what Yemen is going to be, because we are trying very hard, working with the UN, working with our friends in the region, particularly with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – we are working hard to secure a negotiated process through the UN which will bring the parties together, Yemenis, to negotiate the future of Yemen. And if that can happen, then it obviously has the opportunity to hold itself together, to resolve a way in which all of the interests within the country can be represented.
Many other countries have stated that it is their desire to see this political solution take place. Iran has publicly made suggestions that they’d like to see a negotiation, that they think it could be resolved through that, but would like to see it resolved that way. European countries – France, Germany, Britain, others – have all weighed in. The EU has suggested it needs to be resolved that way. So as long as that is yet untested and un-failed, I think all of us have hopes that Yemen can find a path forward.
Now, it’s not going to be easy; many things have to happen. We believe that one of those things is – and the Saudis have suggested that they would be prepared to (inaudible) humanitarian assistance in and want to do so. So hopefully the modality can be found to be able to get humanitarian assistance according to the Saudi thoughts on that in in a way that can alleviate the shortage of food, the shortage of fuel, the shortage of medicine, and then, using that time period to begin to open up the possibilities of a political resolution. That’s our hope. But we’re having discussions over the course of every day right now in order to push towards this. And our hope is that the UN process may be able to actually take hold before too long and we will continue to work on that as hard as we can.
MS HARF: Great. Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Strengthening the U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership for Human Rights and Lasting Peace
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Mangala, thank you very, very much. Thank you for a wonderful introduction, notwithstanding that you reminded me that I disappointed you in 2004. (Laughter.) I disappointed myself and a few other people.
I am really happy to be here (inaudible) and I’m very happy to welcome all of you here. No, you are welcoming me – it’s a mutual welcome, admiration, effort. And I can’t thank Mangala and Sri Lanka enough for the very generous welcome that you gave me this morning when I first came here. I came over to that historic building that is now the foreign ministry. Thank you for that, my friend.
I also want to thank you for your remarkable efforts – yours and the president’s and prime minister’s – on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka. And I thank you for something else. A week ago I was in northern Canada, just below the Arctic Circle, not far from the Arctic Ocean, where I was assuming the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. And I want you to know it is a welcome change to enjoy the warm weather here. (Laughter.) I didn’t see a lot of igloos around, happily.
I also want to say thank you to all of you who have come here – students, educators, civil society activists, religious leaders, and to everyone from the government, the diplomatic community, and the private sector who has committed time to be here to share some thoughts this afternoon.
It is fitting that we gather today under the auspices of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute. Lakshman was, to put it simply, a brave man and a good man. He rejected recrimination in favor of reconciliation. He knew that the future demanded that his country move beyond the more difficult chapters of its past. And he devoted his last years to healing Sri Lanka and to leading it to its rightful place within the community of nations. He said wisely, “We have to live in Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans, tolerating all races and religions.”
So many of you here are the fathers and mothers of this vision. But as any parent will tell you, your obligations don’t end with a child’s birth; they’re just beginning. Sri Lanka’s newfound civil peace has to be nurtured; it must be allowed to grow and become stronger until it is, in fact, fully mature.
If Lakshman Kadirgamar was here and he had lived to see this new era, I know he would be inspired by the people of this country – Sinhalese and Tamil, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. He would see the possibilities of a Sri Lanka reconciled, democratic, and prosperous, with a united and entrepreneurial people dedicated to making their country a shining jewel of the Indian Ocean and of the broader Indo-Pacific. The United States, I am here to tell you, believes in that vision. We believe in the potential of Sri Lanka, the potential of Sri Lanka’s people – and I mean all of its people. And I can assure you that the United States, that America will stand with you by your side as you build a stronger democracy and a future that is marked by peace and prosperity after so many years of suffering and hardship.
Now, I don’t have to tell you that history. You know it; you’ve lived it. You’ve experienced it for 30 years. Terrorism, sectarian violence, suffering, death, anger, disappearances, moments of hope followed by more loss, more hate, and more fear.
Having gone to war myself, as Mangala mentioned, not very far from here, I know the tragic truth that in peacetime, children bury their parents, but in wartime, parents bury their children. Sri Lanka has known too many generations of parents forced to bury children.
Let me be very clear about this: It is sometimes necessary to go to war, despite the pain it brings. For all of my country’s disagreements with the previous government in Sri Lanka over how it fought the LTTE, we clearly understood the necessity of ridding this country of a murderous terrorist group and the fear that it sowed.
I believe that you learned in the final, bloody days of that struggle what my country discovered to our own anguish during our civil war: There were no true victors – only victims. You saw, I trust, that it is obvious the value of ending wars in a way that builds a foundation for the peace to follow.
And I know you recognize today that the true peace is more than the absence of war. True and lasting peace, especially after a civil conflict, requires policies that foster reconciliation, not resentment. It demands that all citizens of the nation be treated with equal respect and equal rights, and that no one be made to feel excluded or subjugated. It calls for a military that projects its power outward to protect its people, not inward to police them.
It necessitates, as America’s great president Abraham Lincoln said, binding up the nation’s wounds, with malice towards none and with charity towards all.
Today, there are young people in this country who are experiencing peace for the first time in their lives. We need to hope, we need to make certain that they will know anything – that they will never know anything except for peace.
And that isn’t easy – recovering from conflict, believe me, never is easy. Under President Sirisena’s leadership, Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and independent civil society are returning. The armed forces have started to give back land to people in the north. Your citizens have been asked to mourn all the dead – not just those from one part of the country or one ethnicity or one faith. Incidents of violence have decreased.
The government has stood up against hate speech and created a presidential task force on reconciliation led by former President Kumaratunga. And just this week, the parliament passed and the president championed, as Mangala said, a constitutional amendment that actually limits the powers of his office. Promise made; promise kept.
Now, the problems of Sri Lanka are clearly going to be solved by Sri Lankans. That’s the way it ought to be, but it’s also the only way it’s going to work. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.
But if – but we also know that, in today’s world, everyone and everything is connected. And when we are connected unlike any time in history – everybody’s walking around, even in places where they’re poor, with a smartphone and a cellphone; they’re in touch, they’re in touch with the world. So if there are steps the United States can take to help, we will do so. I know you have your own plan and your own notions about what is necessary, and by no means whatsoever do we intend to try to usurp that or evade that or dismiss that. That would be inappropriate and unwise at the same time. But we do have some suggestions, as friends. And let’s offer four possible areas for cooperation.
First – reconciliation. The majority of you voted for a government that is committed to the difficult task of literally healing the wounds of war. But that’s a difficult job with many components.
Years ago, I want you to know that when I was a member of the United States Senate – in the early years in the ‘90s, Mangala– I was put in charge of an investigation to try to determine the fate of American soldiers, sailors, and aviators who were still missing from the Vietnam War during the 1960s and the 1970s. The families of those in America whose loved ones had been lost were desperately trying to get answers from the government and demanding answers, and they had every right to do so. And we knew that it was impossible for us to try to move forward if we didn’t try to provide those answers. So we did everything possible that there was to try to find out what happened to their loved ones. I traveled to Vietnam something like 17 or 20 times in the span of two years, working with the Vietnamese to let us into their history houses, to their museums, to their documents – even to interview with the generals that we had fought against to see if we could provide those answers.
So we experienced the same emotions and the same search for answers that are present in your country today. And that is why it is so critical for your government to work with the ICRC and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and try wherever you can – I can’t guarantee it; nobody can that you’ll find the answer for sure – but try to find wherever the truth may lead. No matter how painful that truth is. It’s the right and the humane thing to do – and it is, believe it or not, an essential part of the healing process.
Now, reconciliation obviously doesn’t happen all at once; it requires time and concrete actions. And those have to replace the suspicion with mutual trust and mutual fears have to be replaced with mutual confidence. I want you to know that the United States stands ready to be a partner with you in that effort.
We’ll do all we can to support the government as it makes progress in such areas as returning land, limiting the role of the military in civilian life, and trying to provide the answers on disappeared people. None of us wants to live in a country where the military is stopping its own citizens at checkpoints. And Sri Lanka’s military has so much more to contribute in defending this country, protecting vital sea lanes, and taking part in UN peacekeeping missions all over the world. And as your armed forces make that transition, we’re going to be very eager to work with you and to work with them and to help.
That said, the job of bringing Sri Lankans together also cannot be done by the government alone. So it matters what you say, it matters what people say, and that they have the right to say it. It matters what civil society – that many of you here represent – what you have to say. It matters what religious groups are saying and what they’re able to accomplish, and that they have the freedom to be able to move to do so. And it matters what communities are able to do in order to fix the kind of social problems that impact everyone – from promoting health care and a clean environment to countering domestic violence and drug use – and that the central government trusts people to take the lead.
Now in all this – some may think this goes without saying, but in too many parts of the world it doesn’t – the women of Sri Lanka are playing a critical role, and must. They are helping the needy and the displaced. They’re encouraging people to build secure and prosperous neighborhoods. They are supporting ex-combatants and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and they’re providing counseling and other social services. And these efforts are absolutely vital and we should all support them.
But we also have to do more than that. Here, as in every country, it’s crystal clear that for any society to thrive, women have to be in full control – they have to be full participants in the economics and in the political life. There is no excuse in the 21st century for discrimination or violence against women. Not now, and not ever.
Now, that brings me to the second area of possible cooperation on justice and accountability. Restoring your country’s judiciary is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. Those reforms are often difficult to achieve anyway – we’re still working on some things in our system, believe me; you can see some of it on television – not easy, but it is absolutely essential to be open and honest about trying to do it. Every citizen has a right to seek justice, and every citizen has a right to expect justice for victims of war crimes or crimes against humanity. They’re painful issues; I know that. But if you try to compel people to simply forget the past and try to wipe it away, believe me: They will be more likely, not less, to cling to it. And if you tell them to forego justice under the law, they will be more likely to seek it outside of the law. It will be harder, not easier, to move forward as one country at peace.
And that is why we hope your government will continue to cooperate with the United Nations as it explores the best way to mount a credible domestic investigation into allegations of human rights abuses – an investigation that meets international standards and at the same time, and most importantly, is legitimate in your eyes, in the eyes of the people here. The United States is prepared to furnish whatever legal, whatever technical assistance, whatever help we can to support Sri Lanka as it moves down this path.
A third area where we can work together is the advancement of human rights, here and around the world. The new government that you’ve elected is laser focused on establishing a strong reputation for your country on human rights. And the United States could not be more supportive of that goal. Until just recently, our diplomats routinely clashed with yours on these issues at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the UN in New York. Now, with the new government, with the turning of this critical page, we have an opportunity to work together. But we also continue to urge your government to release remaining political prisoners, and we would be pleased to assist in those efforts by sending a team of legal experts to advise on assessment and release, which is a critical component of the documents that have to be made in that.
And I say this fully mindful of the fact – believe me – no nation, including the United States, has a perfect record on human rights. We all have to do our best in order to improve. And I hope that the momentum that has been created in Sri Lanka will continue to build, and I’m confident that with the government you have and their commitments reiterated to me today, I have no doubt that you will.
Now, a final challenge on which our two governments may be able to work together is the strengthening of democratic institutions. Here, you have a very strong foundation on which to build. Your former president reminded me that they had lunch, that you had the first – the longest serving supreme court in all of Asia, and that you have one of the oldest parliaments. You have this extraordinary foundation on which to build. We simply offer our support to help you in any way that we can on this effort of capacity building and the challenge of restoring the tradition that you have always had with respect to the fullness of your democracy. We want to help support you in the upcoming electoral processes. Timely elections will be yet another sign of the government following through on its commitments.
Now, the people of Sri Lanka deserve great credit for the recent elections. And I want to congratulate all of you. They’re quite remarkable. You turned out in huge numbers to exercise your rights. Every vote was a victory for your country. And you insisted on historic reforms, including a constitutional amendment that was just restoring the independence of the electoral commission. But hard work remains, my friends, including devolving power to the provinces. The United States stands ready to provide technical assistance to make it easier to implement these measures and to strengthen such critical institutions as the ministries and parliament. We’re also ready to help with asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. Our investigators are prepared to work with your investigators. Our prosecutors are prepared to work with your prosecutors. And we commit that any stolen assets in the United States will be returned to their rightful owners.
We’ve seen in recent decades that free countries can learn from one another, and that, to prosper, they have to be prepared to help one another. And that is why I’m pleased to announce that our governments will launch a partnership dialogue to intensify our cooperation across the board. President Obama has nominated a new ambassador, and as a symbol of our renewed commitment to this relationship, I am happy to announce that we are going to build a new embassy compound. And our partnership dialogue and expanded bilateral assistance will help consolidate Sri Lanka’s very impressive gains. We also want to do this in a spirit of friendship and mutual respect. We’re not doing this as part of any global countering or whatever – make your choices. That’s your right as independent people. But we appreciate and respect and admire the steps that have been taken by you to give yourself a government that wants to restore that government. And in any way that we can help, we stand ready to do so.
So to sum up, Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Your institutions of governance are regaining strength, but further progress will have to be made. The United States will help when and where we can. And no part of this transition, obviously, will be easy, but if Sri Lanka keeps moving forward, I have every confidence it will take its rightful place of respect and of influence on the world stage.
Sri Lankans should take enormous pride – I’m sure you do – in what has been happening within your borders. But every nation also has to look beyond its borders as well.
For Sri Lankans, that’s nothing new. Your country sits at the crossroads of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. And for centuries, it’s served as a gateway for merchant ships. The Indian Ocean is the world’s most important commercial highway. Today, 40 percent of all seaborne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz and half of the world’s merchant fleet capacity sails through the Straits of Malacca. And with its strategic location near deep-water ports in India and Myanmar, Sri Lanka could serve as the fulcrum of a modern and dynamic Indo-Pacific region.
The questions now are: How do we get there and what role can the United States play in that journey? Well, let me answer that question by saying that we see our role partly as a leader, because we have a strong economy and an ability to be able to project, but also we see our role as a convener, and most importantly, as a partner.
The United States is already providing leadership on maritime security in the India Ocean in association with close friends and allies across the region, including India, Australia, Indonesia, and Japan. And that requires, in part, a focus on counter-piracy and counter-trafficking operations. It requires investments in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, so that the next big storm doesn’t inflict catastrophic damage on coastal communities. The United States and Sri Lanka are also working together to oppose the use of intimidation or force to assert a territorial or maritime claim by anyone. And we reject any suggestion that freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are somehow privileges granted by big states to small ones. They’re not privileges; they’re rights. And these principles bind all nations equally. And the recent decision by India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh to submit to binding arbitration – that’s an example of how maritime claims can be resolved peacefully and through good-faith negotiations.
Now, I’ve said convene also – is a convener. The United States is also a convener when it comes to promoting economic integration. South Asia is one of the globe’s least economically integrated regions. Trade among its countries amounts to some 5 percent of total trade and the cost of doing business across borders due to non-tariff barriers, import duties, and bottlenecks at border crossings is a huge impediment to growth.
That is why the United States is promoting the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor to connect South Asia to Southeast Asia and to spur sustainable development in both regions. IPEC will strengthen energy, transit, trade, and people-to-people ties – on land and sea. And the challenge is: What’s the pace going to be of this integration? If commerce across South Asia is going to become the economic driver that it ought to be, governments have to act with urgency, not settle for half-measures or wait for the next country to go first. And we look forward to working with the Sri Lankan Government as it increases trade and investment with its neighbors in the Indian Ocean and beyond.
So the United States I’ve described as a leader and convener. Most importantly, though, I want to talk about being a partner. We’re a partner in something like disaster relief, climate change, clean energy. Here in Sri Lanka, you lived through the devastating impact of the 2004 tsunami. I’ll never forget hearing the news. The images are absolutely extraordinary, gut-wrenching –entire towns obliterated; raging waters sweeping away people’s homes; hundreds of thousands killed and many more separated from families.
And after the devastation, the American people moved quickly and generously to provide relief. And I’m proud that the United States Marines were among the first responders in the recovery efforts. And USAID alone provided about $135 million of assistance, with many millions more coming from the American people’s personal donations.
The earthquake that caused the tsunami was unprecedented in its destructive impact. And as searing as images from Kathmandu this week remind us, the nations of this region have to find common cause in enhancing the preparedness for natural disasters. But we also know that because of climate change, we’re actually going to be facing more frequent and intense disasters across the board. I’m not drawing that out of thin air, and I hate to be the bearer of that kind of a warning, but it’s science that’s telling us – the IPCC of the United Nations, the world’s scientists. And we’re seeing the changes already in so many different places, including the Arctic, that I visited the other day. So the United States stands ready to help respond and prevent climate change by leading the world towards a global agreement at the end of this year in Paris.
I can’t tell whether one storm – nobody can – or another storm specifically was caused by climate change, but I can tell you that scientists are telling us unequivocally that there will be more storms of greater intensity unless we stop and reverse course in what we are doing to send greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Now, some people might shrug their shoulders and just say, “Well, there’s nothing that I can do about it.” That’s not true. There’s something everybody can do about it. In fact, all of us know exactly what we have to do. The solution to climate change is a transformed energy policy. Just as climate change presents the United States, Sri Lanka, and the region with a common threat, my friends, the need to develop secure and sustainable energy sources presents us with a remarkable shared opportunity – the greatest market in the history of humankind. It’s an opportunity to make the right choices about conservation, about wind power, or solar power, hydro – which you have, significantly – about fuel and utility standards, about efficiency standards, about building codes, about transportation. And we can – and with all those things – reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and save ourselves, save the planet, literally, from a catastrophe that would be the unrestrained effects of climate change.
Good energy solutions are good climate solutions. And the market represents a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, with 4 to 5 billion users around the world today. Just so you have a little comparison on that, the market of the 1990s that drove our economy to the greatest wealth creation since the early 1900s was a $1 trillion market, not multitrillion. And it had one billion users. And that was the technology, communications market. The energy market is 6, 7 trillion now and rising – maybe 9 by the mid part of the century. By 2040, investment in the energy sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That’s a lot of money, my friends – that’s a lot of jobs. So we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of the economic pie.
Now, of course, Sri Lanka is much more of a marketplace for clean energy. It is much more than simply a market to attract clean energy, and you know that, and I know that. It’s a cultural model; it’s a huge economic mosaic. It could well become, as you march down this road with the effectiveness you have been these days, a model for democracy and the restoration of democracy. It could show unity in remarkable ways to the region. We see even now, regrettably, that there are signs – troubling signs that democracy is under threat in Maldives, where former President Nasheed has been imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that must be addressed soon. But Sri Lanka’s story carries the promise that people can hold their government accountable, use peaceful dissent, use the power of the ballot box and change the course of history. And we can already see here the power of that promise.
We see it in the hard work of a Sinhalese mother who struggles to give her child a good education. We see it in the dignity that comes when a young Tamil man secures a job in which he can take pride. We see it in the common desire of all Sri Lankans to live in a safe neighborhood and a secure nation. We see it in the demand that leaders protect the rights of people and be responsive to the basic needs and aspirations. Those are the values that connect all of us across every boundary, no matter our history, no matter our background, no matter our beliefs and our creed. That’s who we are. Now, I want to leave you with just one story of that kind of belief today.
Karthika is from a Tamil Hindu family. When she was 14, the Tigers kidnapped her and sent her north to Jaffna. She was forced to carry a gun and move through the jungle. She was given barely enough food to survive. And in a firefight one day, bullets and shrapnel blinded her in one eye. For 11 years, her family had no idea whether she was alive or dead.
Eventually, Karthika escaped that hell by fleeing through areas of heavy fighting. She returned home, but in many ways, her struggle was only just beginning. She had limited education, limited skills, having spent half her life surrounded by war. She had few friends, and even fewer prospects to find a job or even to start a life.
After several false starts, Karthika found a USAID program in the Eastern Province that offered her a way out. She trained for months and learned the skills she needed to get her a job in a new garment factory. She started earning an income. And she made an effort to befriend women from the Sinhalese community, something that would have been unimaginable for her just a few short years ago. Asked why she was able to find hope when others didn’t, Karthika said very simply, “Now, it has changed.”
My friends, everywhere there is an injustice, there are men and women who are ready to be the Karthikas of their moment. Men and women who survive a war that wrecks families, and then build their own. Men and women who see what the worst of what people can do, and then dedicate their lives to finding the best in others. You have all borne the costs of war. It’s now time for you to experience and hold onto the benefits of peace. “Now, it has changed” is a claim that each and every one of you can make together. And I am certain that you will make it a proud claim – a badge of merit and honor and success that will be heard and seen by your neighbors and friends all across the globe.
So thank you once again for welcoming me here. It’s an honor for me to be here at this point in your history. And I can tell you that we will not walk away from our pledge to work with you, to go together on this road and on this journey. Good luck to all. Godspeed on the road ahead. Thank you. (Applause.)
Strengthening the U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership for Human Rights and Lasting Peace
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Mangala, thank you very, very much. Thank you for a wonderful introduction, notwithstanding that you reminded me that I disappointed you in 2004. (Laughter.) I disappointed myself and a few other people.
I am really happy to be here (inaudible) and I’m very happy to welcome all of you here. No, you are welcoming me – it’s a mutual welcome, admiration, effort. And I can’t thank Mangala and Sri Lanka enough for the very generous welcome that you gave me this morning when I first came here. I came over to that historic building that is now the foreign ministry. Thank you for that, my friend.
I also want to thank you for your remarkable efforts – yours and the president’s and prime minister’s – on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka. And I thank you for something else. A week ago I was in northern Canada, just below the Arctic Circle, not far from the Arctic Ocean, where I was assuming the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. And I want you to know it is a welcome change to enjoy the warm weather here. (Laughter.) I didn’t see a lot of igloos around, happily.
I also want to say thank you to all of you who have come here – students, educators, civil society activists, religious leaders, and to everyone from the government, the diplomatic community, and the private sector who has committed time to be here to share some thoughts this afternoon.
It is fitting that we gather today under the auspices of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute. Lakshman was, to put it simply, a brave man and a good man. He rejected recrimination in favor of reconciliation. He knew that the future demanded that his country move beyond the more difficult chapters of its past. And he devoted his last years to healing Sri Lanka and to leading it to its rightful place within the community of nations. He said wisely, “We have to live in Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans, tolerating all races and religions.”
So many of you here are the fathers and mothers of this vision. But as any parent will tell you, your obligations don’t end with a child’s birth; they’re just beginning. Sri Lanka’s newfound civil peace has to be nurtured; it must be allowed to grow and become stronger until it is, in fact, fully mature.
If Lakshman Kadirgamar was here and he had lived to see this new era, I know he would be inspired by the people of this country – Sinhalese and Tamil, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. He would see the possibilities of a Sri Lanka reconciled, democratic, and prosperous, with a united and entrepreneurial people dedicated to making their country a shining jewel of the Indian Ocean and of the broader Indo-Pacific. The United States, I am here to tell you, believes in that vision. We believe in the potential of Sri Lanka, the potential of Sri Lanka’s people – and I mean all of its people. And I can assure you that the United States, that America will stand with you by your side as you build a stronger democracy and a future that is marked by peace and prosperity after so many years of suffering and hardship.
Now, I don’t have to tell you that history. You know it; you’ve lived it. You’ve experienced it for 30 years. Terrorism, sectarian violence, suffering, death, anger, disappearances, moments of hope followed by more loss, more hate, and more fear.
Having gone to war myself, as Mangala mentioned, not very far from here, I know the tragic truth that in peacetime, children bury their parents, but in wartime, parents bury their children. Sri Lanka has known too many generations of parents forced to bury children.
Let me be very clear about this: It is sometimes necessary to go to war, despite the pain it brings. For all of my country’s disagreements with the previous government in Sri Lanka over how it fought the LTTE, we clearly understood the necessity of ridding this country of a murderous terrorist group and the fear that it sowed.
I believe that you learned in the final, bloody days of that struggle what my country discovered to our own anguish during our civil war: There were no true victors – only victims. You saw, I trust, that it is obvious the value of ending wars in a way that builds a foundation for the peace to follow.
And I know you recognize today that the true peace is more than the absence of war. True and lasting peace, especially after a civil conflict, requires policies that foster reconciliation, not resentment. It demands that all citizens of the nation be treated with equal respect and equal rights, and that no one be made to feel excluded or subjugated. It calls for a military that projects its power outward to protect its people, not inward to police them.
It necessitates, as America’s great president Abraham Lincoln said, binding up the nation’s wounds, with malice towards none and with charity towards all.
Today, there are young people in this country who are experiencing peace for the first time in their lives. We need to hope, we need to make certain that they will know anything – that they will never know anything except for peace.
And that isn’t easy – recovering from conflict, believe me, never is easy. Under President Sirisena’s leadership, Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and independent civil society are returning. The armed forces have started to give back land to people in the north. Your citizens have been asked to mourn all the dead – not just those from one part of the country or one ethnicity or one faith. Incidents of violence have decreased.
The government has stood up against hate speech and created a presidential task force on reconciliation led by former President Kumaratunga. And just this week, the parliament passed and the president championed, as Mangala said, a constitutional amendment that actually limits the powers of his office. Promise made; promise kept.
Now, the problems of Sri Lanka are clearly going to be solved by Sri Lankans. That’s the way it ought to be, but it’s also the only way it’s going to work. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.
But if – but we also know that, in today’s world, everyone and everything is connected. And when we are connected unlike any time in history – everybody’s walking around, even in places where they’re poor, with a smartphone and a cellphone; they’re in touch, they’re in touch with the world. So if there are steps the United States can take to help, we will do so. I know you have your own plan and your own notions about what is necessary, and by no means whatsoever do we intend to try to usurp that or evade that or dismiss that. That would be inappropriate and unwise at the same time. But we do have some suggestions, as friends. And let’s offer four possible areas for cooperation.
First – reconciliation. The majority of you voted for a government that is committed to the difficult task of literally healing the wounds of war. But that’s a difficult job with many components.
Years ago, I want you to know that when I was a member of the United States Senate – in the early years in the ‘90s, Mangala– I was put in charge of an investigation to try to determine the fate of American soldiers, sailors, and aviators who were still missing from the Vietnam War during the 1960s and the 1970s. The families of those in America whose loved ones had been lost were desperately trying to get answers from the government and demanding answers, and they had every right to do so. And we knew that it was impossible for us to try to move forward if we didn’t try to provide those answers. So we did everything possible that there was to try to find out what happened to their loved ones. I traveled to Vietnam something like 17 or 20 times in the span of two years, working with the Vietnamese to let us into their history houses, to their museums, to their documents – even to interview with the generals that we had fought against to see if we could provide those answers.
So we experienced the same emotions and the same search for answers that are present in your country today. And that is why it is so critical for your government to work with the ICRC and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and try wherever you can – I can’t guarantee it; nobody can that you’ll find the answer for sure – but try to find wherever the truth may lead. No matter how painful that truth is. It’s the right and the humane thing to do – and it is, believe it or not, an essential part of the healing process.
Now, reconciliation obviously doesn’t happen all at once; it requires time and concrete actions. And those have to replace the suspicion with mutual trust and mutual fears have to be replaced with mutual confidence. I want you to know that the United States stands ready to be a partner with you in that effort.
We’ll do all we can to support the government as it makes progress in such areas as returning land, limiting the role of the military in civilian life, and trying to provide the answers on disappeared people. None of us wants to live in a country where the military is stopping its own citizens at checkpoints. And Sri Lanka’s military has so much more to contribute in defending this country, protecting vital sea lanes, and taking part in UN peacekeeping missions all over the world. And as your armed forces make that transition, we’re going to be very eager to work with you and to work with them and to help.
That said, the job of bringing Sri Lankans together also cannot be done by the government alone. So it matters what you say, it matters what people say, and that they have the right to say it. It matters what civil society – that many of you here represent – what you have to say. It matters what religious groups are saying and what they’re able to accomplish, and that they have the freedom to be able to move to do so. And it matters what communities are able to do in order to fix the kind of social problems that impact everyone – from promoting health care and a clean environment to countering domestic violence and drug use – and that the central government trusts people to take the lead.
Now in all this – some may think this goes without saying, but in too many parts of the world it doesn’t – the women of Sri Lanka are playing a critical role, and must. They are helping the needy and the displaced. They’re encouraging people to build secure and prosperous neighborhoods. They are supporting ex-combatants and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and they’re providing counseling and other social services. And these efforts are absolutely vital and we should all support them.
But we also have to do more than that. Here, as in every country, it’s crystal clear that for any society to thrive, women have to be in full control – they have to be full participants in the economics and in the political life. There is no excuse in the 21st century for discrimination or violence against women. Not now, and not ever.
Now, that brings me to the second area of possible cooperation on justice and accountability. Restoring your country’s judiciary is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. Those reforms are often difficult to achieve anyway – we’re still working on some things in our system, believe me; you can see some of it on television – not easy, but it is absolutely essential to be open and honest about trying to do it. Every citizen has a right to seek justice, and every citizen has a right to expect justice for victims of war crimes or crimes against humanity. They’re painful issues; I know that. But if you try to compel people to simply forget the past and try to wipe it away, believe me: They will be more likely, not less, to cling to it. And if you tell them to forego justice under the law, they will be more likely to seek it outside of the law. It will be harder, not easier, to move forward as one country at peace.
And that is why we hope your government will continue to cooperate with the United Nations as it explores the best way to mount a credible domestic investigation into allegations of human rights abuses – an investigation that meets international standards and at the same time, and most importantly, is legitimate in your eyes, in the eyes of the people here. The United States is prepared to furnish whatever legal, whatever technical assistance, whatever help we can to support Sri Lanka as it moves down this path.
A third area where we can work together is the advancement of human rights, here and around the world. The new government that you’ve elected is laser focused on establishing a strong reputation for your country on human rights. And the United States could not be more supportive of that goal. Until just recently, our diplomats routinely clashed with yours on these issues at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the UN in New York. Now, with the new government, with the turning of this critical page, we have an opportunity to work together. But we also continue to urge your government to release remaining political prisoners, and we would be pleased to assist in those efforts by sending a team of legal experts to advise on assessment and release, which is a critical component of the documents that have to be made in that.
And I say this fully mindful of the fact – believe me – no nation, including the United States, has a perfect record on human rights. We all have to do our best in order to improve. And I hope that the momentum that has been created in Sri Lanka will continue to build, and I’m confident that with the government you have and their commitments reiterated to me today, I have no doubt that you will.
Now, a final challenge on which our two governments may be able to work together is the strengthening of democratic institutions. Here, you have a very strong foundation on which to build. Your former president reminded me that they had lunch, that you had the first – the longest serving supreme court in all of Asia, and that you have one of the oldest parliaments. You have this extraordinary foundation on which to build. We simply offer our support to help you in any way that we can on this effort of capacity building and the challenge of restoring the tradition that you have always had with respect to the fullness of your democracy. We want to help support you in the upcoming electoral processes. Timely elections will be yet another sign of the government following through on its commitments.
Now, the people of Sri Lanka deserve great credit for the recent elections. And I want to congratulate all of you. They’re quite remarkable. You turned out in huge numbers to exercise your rights. Every vote was a victory for your country. And you insisted on historic reforms, including a constitutional amendment that was just restoring the independence of the electoral commission. But hard work remains, my friends, including devolving power to the provinces. The United States stands ready to provide technical assistance to make it easier to implement these measures and to strengthen such critical institutions as the ministries and parliament. We’re also ready to help with asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. Our investigators are prepared to work with your investigators. Our prosecutors are prepared to work with your prosecutors. And we commit that any stolen assets in the United States will be returned to their rightful owners.
We’ve seen in recent decades that free countries can learn from one another, and that, to prosper, they have to be prepared to help one another. And that is why I’m pleased to announce that our governments will launch a partnership dialogue to intensify our cooperation across the board. President Obama has nominated a new ambassador, and as a symbol of our renewed commitment to this relationship, I am happy to announce that we are going to build a new embassy compound. And our partnership dialogue and expanded bilateral assistance will help consolidate Sri Lanka’s very impressive gains. We also want to do this in a spirit of friendship and mutual respect. We’re not doing this as part of any global countering or whatever – make your choices. That’s your right as independent people. But we appreciate and respect and admire the steps that have been taken by you to give yourself a government that wants to restore that government. And in any way that we can help, we stand ready to do so.
So to sum up, Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Your institutions of governance are regaining strength, but further progress will have to be made. The United States will help when and where we can. And no part of this transition, obviously, will be easy, but if Sri Lanka keeps moving forward, I have every confidence it will take its rightful place of respect and of influence on the world stage.
Sri Lankans should take enormous pride – I’m sure you do – in what has been happening within your borders. But every nation also has to look beyond its borders as well.
For Sri Lankans, that’s nothing new. Your country sits at the crossroads of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. And for centuries, it’s served as a gateway for merchant ships. The Indian Ocean is the world’s most important commercial highway. Today, 40 percent of all seaborne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz and half of the world’s merchant fleet capacity sails through the Straits of Malacca. And with its strategic location near deep-water ports in India and Myanmar, Sri Lanka could serve as the fulcrum of a modern and dynamic Indo-Pacific region.
The questions now are: How do we get there and what role can the United States play in that journey? Well, let me answer that question by saying that we see our role partly as a leader, because we have a strong economy and an ability to be able to project, but also we see our role as a convener, and most importantly, as a partner.
The United States is already providing leadership on maritime security in the India Ocean in association with close friends and allies across the region, including India, Australia, Indonesia, and Japan. And that requires, in part, a focus on counter-piracy and counter-trafficking operations. It requires investments in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, so that the next big storm doesn’t inflict catastrophic damage on coastal communities. The United States and Sri Lanka are also working together to oppose the use of intimidation or force to assert a territorial or maritime claim by anyone. And we reject any suggestion that freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are somehow privileges granted by big states to small ones. They’re not privileges; they’re rights. And these principles bind all nations equally. And the recent decision by India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh to submit to binding arbitration – that’s an example of how maritime claims can be resolved peacefully and through good-faith negotiations.
Now, I’ve said convene also – is a convener. The United States is also a convener when it comes to promoting economic integration. South Asia is one of the globe’s least economically integrated regions. Trade among its countries amounts to some 5 percent of total trade and the cost of doing business across borders due to non-tariff barriers, import duties, and bottlenecks at border crossings is a huge impediment to growth.
That is why the United States is promoting the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor to connect South Asia to Southeast Asia and to spur sustainable development in both regions. IPEC will strengthen energy, transit, trade, and people-to-people ties – on land and sea. And the challenge is: What’s the pace going to be of this integration? If commerce across South Asia is going to become the economic driver that it ought to be, governments have to act with urgency, not settle for half-measures or wait for the next country to go first. And we look forward to working with the Sri Lankan Government as it increases trade and investment with its neighbors in the Indian Ocean and beyond.
So the United States I’ve described as a leader and convener. Most importantly, though, I want to talk about being a partner. We’re a partner in something like disaster relief, climate change, clean energy. Here in Sri Lanka, you lived through the devastating impact of the 2004 tsunami. I’ll never forget hearing the news. The images are absolutely extraordinary, gut-wrenching –entire towns obliterated; raging waters sweeping away people’s homes; hundreds of thousands killed and many more separated from families.
And after the devastation, the American people moved quickly and generously to provide relief. And I’m proud that the United States Marines were among the first responders in the recovery efforts. And USAID alone provided about $135 million of assistance, with many millions more coming from the American people’s personal donations.
The earthquake that caused the tsunami was unprecedented in its destructive impact. And as searing as images from Kathmandu this week remind us, the nations of this region have to find common cause in enhancing the preparedness for natural disasters. But we also know that because of climate change, we’re actually going to be facing more frequent and intense disasters across the board. I’m not drawing that out of thin air, and I hate to be the bearer of that kind of a warning, but it’s science that’s telling us – the IPCC of the United Nations, the world’s scientists. And we’re seeing the changes already in so many different places, including the Arctic, that I visited the other day. So the United States stands ready to help respond and prevent climate change by leading the world towards a global agreement at the end of this year in Paris.
I can’t tell whether one storm – nobody can – or another storm specifically was caused by climate change, but I can tell you that scientists are telling us unequivocally that there will be more storms of greater intensity unless we stop and reverse course in what we are doing to send greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Now, some people might shrug their shoulders and just say, “Well, there’s nothing that I can do about it.” That’s not true. There’s something everybody can do about it. In fact, all of us know exactly what we have to do. The solution to climate change is a transformed energy policy. Just as climate change presents the United States, Sri Lanka, and the region with a common threat, my friends, the need to develop secure and sustainable energy sources presents us with a remarkable shared opportunity – the greatest market in the history of humankind. It’s an opportunity to make the right choices about conservation, about wind power, or solar power, hydro – which you have, significantly – about fuel and utility standards, about efficiency standards, about building codes, about transportation. And we can – and with all those things – reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and save ourselves, save the planet, literally, from a catastrophe that would be the unrestrained effects of climate change.
Good energy solutions are good climate solutions. And the market represents a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, with 4 to 5 billion users around the world today. Just so you have a little comparison on that, the market of the 1990s that drove our economy to the greatest wealth creation since the early 1900s was a $1 trillion market, not multitrillion. And it had one billion users. And that was the technology, communications market. The energy market is 6, 7 trillion now and rising – maybe 9 by the mid part of the century. By 2040, investment in the energy sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That’s a lot of money, my friends – that’s a lot of jobs. So we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of the economic pie.
Now, of course, Sri Lanka is much more of a marketplace for clean energy. It is much more than simply a market to attract clean energy, and you know that, and I know that. It’s a cultural model; it’s a huge economic mosaic. It could well become, as you march down this road with the effectiveness you have been these days, a model for democracy and the restoration of democracy. It could show unity in remarkable ways to the region. We see even now, regrettably, that there are signs – troubling signs that democracy is under threat in Maldives, where former President Nasheed has been imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that must be addressed soon. But Sri Lanka’s story carries the promise that people can hold their government accountable, use peaceful dissent, use the power of the ballot box and change the course of history. And we can already see here the power of that promise.
We see it in the hard work of a Sinhalese mother who struggles to give her child a good education. We see it in the dignity that comes when a young Tamil man secures a job in which he can take pride. We see it in the common desire of all Sri Lankans to live in a safe neighborhood and a secure nation. We see it in the demand that leaders protect the rights of people and be responsive to the basic needs and aspirations. Those are the values that connect all of us across every boundary, no matter our history, no matter our background, no matter our beliefs and our creed. That’s who we are. Now, I want to leave you with just one story of that kind of belief today.
Karthika is from a Tamil Hindu family. When she was 14, the Tigers kidnapped her and sent her north to Jaffna. She was forced to carry a gun and move through the jungle. She was given barely enough food to survive. And in a firefight one day, bullets and shrapnel blinded her in one eye. For 11 years, her family had no idea whether she was alive or dead.
Eventually, Karthika escaped that hell by fleeing through areas of heavy fighting. She returned home, but in many ways, her struggle was only just beginning. She had limited education, limited skills, having spent half her life surrounded by war. She had few friends, and even fewer prospects to find a job or even to start a life.
After several false starts, Karthika found a USAID program in the Eastern Province that offered her a way out. She trained for months and learned the skills she needed to get her a job in a new garment factory. She started earning an income. And she made an effort to befriend women from the Sinhalese community, something that would have been unimaginable for her just a few short years ago. Asked why she was able to find hope when others didn’t, Karthika said very simply, “Now, it has changed.”
My friends, everywhere there is an injustice, there are men and women who are ready to be the Karthikas of their moment. Men and women who survive a war that wrecks families, and then build their own. Men and women who see what the worst of what people can do, and then dedicate their lives to finding the best in others. You have all borne the costs of war. It’s now time for you to experience and hold onto the benefits of peace. “Now, it has changed” is a claim that each and every one of you can make together. And I am certain that you will make it a proud claim – a badge of merit and honor and success that will be heard and seen by your neighbors and friends all across the globe.
So thank you once again for welcoming me here. It’s an honor for me to be here at this point in your history. And I can tell you that we will not walk away from our pledge to work with you, to go together on this road and on this journey. Good luck to all. Godspeed on the road ahead. Thank you. (Applause.)
Saturday, January 10, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON SRI LANKAN ELECTIONS
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Conclusion of Sri Lankan Elections and Election of Maithripala Sirisena
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 8, 2015
The Sri Lankan people deserve great credit on the successful conclusion of their elections. They turned out in great numbers to exercise their democratic rights and every vote was a victory for Sri Lanka.
The United States applauds the Sri Lankan Elections Commissioner, the security forces, Sri Lankan civil society, and the candidates themselves for making sure this election was not marred by unrest and for ensuring a significant drop in campaign-related violence. It will be important for that effort to continue in the coming days.
I commend President Rajapaksa for accepting the results of the election in the proud tradition of peaceful and orderly transfers of power in Sri Lanka. His words tonight about accepting the verdict of the people and moving forward are important.
I look forward to working with President-elect Maithripala Sirisena as his new government works to implement its campaign platform of a Sri Lanka that is peaceful, inclusive, democratic, and prosperous.
Conclusion of Sri Lankan Elections and Election of Maithripala Sirisena
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 8, 2015
The Sri Lankan people deserve great credit on the successful conclusion of their elections. They turned out in great numbers to exercise their democratic rights and every vote was a victory for Sri Lanka.
The United States applauds the Sri Lankan Elections Commissioner, the security forces, Sri Lankan civil society, and the candidates themselves for making sure this election was not marred by unrest and for ensuring a significant drop in campaign-related violence. It will be important for that effort to continue in the coming days.
I commend President Rajapaksa for accepting the results of the election in the proud tradition of peaceful and orderly transfers of power in Sri Lanka. His words tonight about accepting the verdict of the people and moving forward are important.
I look forward to working with President-elect Maithripala Sirisena as his new government works to implement its campaign platform of a Sri Lanka that is peaceful, inclusive, democratic, and prosperous.
Friday, November 2, 2012
U.S. CONCERNED OVER IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS AGAINST SRI LANKAN CHIEF JUSTICE
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| Map Credit: CIA World Factbook. |
Impeachment Proceedings Brought Against Sri Lankan Chief Justice
Press Statement
Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 2, 2012
The United States is concerned by actions taken to impeach Sri Lankan Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. We also note with concern recent threats to Sri Lankan judicial officials, including the assault last month on a judge who had publicly criticized government pressure on members of the judiciary. We urge the Government of Sri Lanka to avoid any action that would impede the efficacy and independence of Sri Lanka’s judiciary.
The United States, along with our partners in the international community, continues to urge Sri Lanka to address outstanding issues of the rule of law, democratic governance, accountability and reconciliation.
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| Map Locator Credit: CIA World Factbook. |
Thursday, July 26, 2012
U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK APPROVES NEARLY $65 MILLION FOR SRI LANKA WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS
FROM: EXPORT-IMPORT BANKEx-Im Approves $64.9 Million in Financing for Water-Supply System in Sri Lanka
Washington, D.C. – For the first time since 2008, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a sovereign transaction – a $64.9 million, 12-year direct loan – to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to finance the design and construction of the Badulla, Haliela and Ella Integrated Water Supply System by Tetra Tech of Pasadena, Calif.
The transaction will support approximately 400 American jobs, according to U.S. government estimates, including those at Tetra Tech’s design centers across the United States, particularly in Denver and Longmont, Colo.; Morris Plains, N. J.; Langhorne, Pa.; and Fairfax, Va.
The water-supply project will integrate new and rehabilitated treatment plants, storage tanks, pumping stations, a new dam and impoundment reservoir, new and existing water intake structures, nearly 50 kilometers of transmission pipeline, and more than 100 kilometers of distribution pipeline. Once in place, the water-supply system will help the government of Sri Lanka to realize its objective of providing safe drinking water to 85 percent of the population, in line with the United Nations Millennium Development goals.
"Not only does this transaction stimulate U.S. job creation, but it also contributes directly to the quality of life in Sri Lanka," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "This project will bring potable water to thousands of those who need it, and that is a success."
According to Sri Lankan government estimates in 2009, 79.5 percent of the population had access to water supplies, but only 37.5 percent of the population, or 8.06 million people, could access potable water through pipe-borne systems. In some regions, it was estimated that more than 80 percent of the water supply was contaminated. Much of the contamination was attributed to agrichemical runoff and saltwater intrusion, the latter of which resulted from the 2004 tsunami when four tidal waves inundated part of the island’s freshwater aquifer and well network with seawater.
"This is the first full-scale, design-build water-supply project that Ex-Im Bank has financed for an international client," said Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech’s chairman and CEO. "Tetra Tech is proud to support the government of Sri Lanka in this important effort to bring safe drinking water to its people. This transaction supports high-end technical jobs in the United States and allows us to bring our best water services where they are needed most."
Founded in 1966, Tetra Tech provides consulting, engineering, and construction services related to waterways, harbors, and coastal areas. Over the past 40 years, the company has substantially increased the size and scope of its business and expanded its service offerings through a series of acquisitions and internal growth. The company employs approximately 13,000 people around the globe.
Sri Lanka accounted for approximately $20 million of the Bank’s worldwide credit exposure as of the end of FY 2011.
The Bank’s Environmental Export Program includes support for U.S. goods and services to international water projects, and its enhanced financing includes repayment terms up to 18 years.
Ex-Im Bank’s financing has supported the sale of approximately $270 million in water-related exports since FY 2009.
SRI LANKA PROFILE
Map Credit: U.S. State Department.PROFILE Geography
Area: 65,610 sq. km. (25,332 sq. mi.); about the size of West Virginia.
Cities: Capital--Colombo (pop. est. 1.3 million--urban area). Sri Jayewardenepura-Kotte is the officially designated capital and is the site of Parliament. Other cities--Kandy (150,000), Galle (110,000), Jaffna (100,000).
Terrain: Coastal plains in the northern third of country; hills and mountains in south-central Sri Lanka rise to more than 2,133 meters (7,000 ft.).
Climate: Tropical. Rainy seasons--light in northeast, fall and winter, with average rainfall of 50 in.; heavy in southwest, summer and fall, with average rainfall of 200 in.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Sri Lankan(s).
Population: 21.3 million.
Annual population growth rate: 0.9%.
Ethnic groups (2002): Sinhalese (74%), Tamils (18%), Muslims (7%), others (1%).
Religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.
Languages: Sinhala and Tamil (official), English.
Education: Years compulsory--to age 14. Primary school attendance--96.5%. Literacy--91%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--18.57/1,000. Life expectancy--73 yrs. (male); 77 yrs. (female).
Work force: 7.6 million (excluding northern provinces).
Government
Type: Republic.
Independence: February 4, 1948.
Constitution: August 31, 1978.
Suffrage: Universal over 18.
Branches: Executive--president, chief of state and head of government, elected for a 6-year term. Legislative--unicameral 225-member Parliament. Judicial--Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, subordinate courts.
Administrative subdivisions: Nine provinces and 25 administrative districts.
Political parties: Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, National Freedom Front, Jathika Hela Urumaya, Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Tamil National Alliance, United National Party, Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, Sri Lankan Muslim Congress, National Unity Alliance, Ceylon Workers' Congress, Up-Country People's Front, several small Tamil and Muslim parties, Marxists, and others.
Economy (2010 est.)
GDP: $49.55 billion.
Annual growth rate: 8%.
Natural resources: Limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, and phosphate.
Agriculture (11% of GDP): Major products--rice, tea, rubber, coconut, and spices.
Services (59% of GDP): Major types--tourism, wholesale and retail trade, transport, telecom, financial services.
Industry (29% of GDP): Major types--garments and leather goods, rubber products, food processing, chemicals, refined petroleum, gems and jewelry, non-metallic mineral-based products, and construction.
Trade: Exports--$8.3 billion: garments, tea, rubber products, jewelry and gems, refined petroleum, and coconuts. Major markets--U.S. ($1.77 billion), U.K., India. Imports--$13.5 billion. Major suppliers--India, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Iran, Malaysia, Japan, U.K., U.A.E., Belgium, Indonesia, South Korea, U.S. ($178 million).
PEOPLE
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) is an island in the Indian Ocean about 28 kilometers (18 mi.) off the southeastern coast of India with a population of about 21 million. Density is highest in the southwest where Colombo, the country's main port and industrial center, is located. The net population growth rate is about 1%. Sri Lanka is ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse.
Sinhalese make up 74% of the population and are concentrated in the densely populated southwest. Sri Lankan Tamils, citizens whose South Indian ancestors have lived on the island for centuries, total about 12%, live throughout the country, and predominate in the Northern Province.
Indian Tamils, a distinct ethnic group, represent about 5% of the population. The British brought them to Sri Lanka in the 19th century as tea and rubber plantation workers, and they remain concentrated in the "tea country" of south-central Sri Lanka. In accordance with a 1964 agreement with India, Sri Lanka granted citizenship to 230,000 "stateless" Indian Tamils in 1988. Under the pact, India granted citizenship to the remainder, some 200,000 of whom now live in India. Another 75,000 Indian Tamils, who themselves or whose parents once applied for Indian citizenship, chose to remain in Sri Lanka and have since been granted Sri Lankan citizenship.
Other minorities include Muslims (both Moors and Malays), at about 7% of the population; Burghers, who are descendants of European colonists, principally from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (U.K.); and aboriginal Veddahs. Most Sinhalese are Buddhist; most Tamils are Hindu. The majority of Sri Lanka's Muslims practice Sunni Islam. Sizable minorities of both Sinhalese and Tamils are Christians, most of whom are Roman Catholic. The 1978 constitution--while assuring freedom of religion--grants primacy to Buddhism.
Sinhala, an Indo-European language, is the native tongue of the Sinhalese. Tamils and most Muslims speak Tamil, part of the South Indian Dravidian linguistic group. Use of English has declined since independence, but it continues to be spoken by many in the middle and upper middle classes, particularly in Colombo. The government is seeking to reverse the decline in the use of English, mainly for economic but also for political reasons. Both Sinhala and Tamil are official languages.
HISTORY
The actual origins of the Sinhalese are shrouded in myth. Most believe they came to Sri Lanka from northern India during the 6th century BC. Buddhism arrived from the subcontinent 300 years later and spread rapidly. Buddhism and a sophisticated system of irrigation became the pillars of classical Sinhalese civilization (200 BC-1200 AD) that flourished in the north-central part of the island. Invasions from southern India, combined with internecine strife, pushed Sinhalese kingdoms southward.
The island's contact with the outside world began early. Roman sailors called the island Taprobane. Arab traders knew it as "Serendip," the root of the word "serendipity." Beginning in 1505, Portuguese traders, in search of cinnamon and other spices, seized the island's coastal areas and spread Catholicism. The Dutch supplanted the Portuguese in 1658. Although the British ejected the Dutch in 1796, Dutch law remains an important part of Sri Lankan jurisprudence. In 1815, the British defeated the king of Kandy, last of the native rulers, and created the Crown Colony of Ceylon. They established a plantation economy based on tea, rubber, and coconuts. In 1931, the British granted Ceylon limited self-rule and a universal franchise. Ceylon became independent on February 4, 1948.
Post-Independence Politics
Sri Lankan politics since independence have been strongly democratic. Two major parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), have generally alternated rule.
The UNP ruled first from 1948-56 under three Prime Ministers--D.S. Senanayake, his son Dudley, and Sir John Kotelawala. The SLFP ruled from 1956-65, with a short hiatus in 1960, first under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and then, after his assassination in 1959, under his widow, Sirimavo, the world's first female chief executive in modern times. Dudley Senanayake and the UNP returned to power in 1965.
In 1970, Mrs. Bandaranaike again assumed the premiership. A year later, an insurrection by followers of the Maoist "Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna" (JVP, or "People's Liberation Front") broke out. The SLFP government suppressed the revolt and declared a state of emergency that lasted 6 years.
In 1972, Mrs. Bandaranaike's government introduced a new constitution, which changed the country's name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka, declared it a republic, made protection of Buddhism a constitutional principle, and created a weak president appointed by the prime minister. Its economic policies during this period were highly socialist and included the nationalization of large tea and rubber plantations and other private industries.
The UNP, under J.R. Jayewardene, returned to power in 1977. The Jayewardene government opened the economy and, in 1978, introduced a new constitution based on the French model, a key element of which was the creation of a strong executive presidency. J.R. Jayewardene was elected President by Parliament in 1978 and by nationwide election in 1982. In 1982, a national referendum extended the life of Parliament another 6 years.
The UNP's Ranasinghe Premadasa, Prime Minister in the Jayewardene government, narrowly defeated Mrs. Bandaranaike (SLFP) in the 1988 presidential elections. The UNP also won an absolute majority in the 1989 parliamentary elections. Mr. Premadasa was assassinated on May 1, 1993 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ("LTTE" or "Tigers"), and was replaced by then-Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga, who appointed Ranil Wickremasinghe Prime Minister.
The SLFP, the main party in the People's Alliance (PA) coalition, returned to power in 1994 for the first time in 17 years. The PA won a plurality in the August 1994 parliamentary elections and formed a coalition government with Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as Prime Minister. Prime Minister Kumaratunga later won the November 1994 presidential elections and appointed her mother (former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike) to replace her as Prime Minister. President Kumaratunga won re-election to another 6-year term in December 1999. In August 2000, Mrs. Bandaranaike resigned as Prime Minister for health reasons, and Ratnasiri Wickramanayake was appointed to take her place. In December 2001, the UNP assumed power, led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. Chandrika Kumaratunga remained as President. In November of 2003, President Kumaratunga suddenly took control of three key ministries, triggering a serious cohabitation crisis.
In January 2004, the SLFP and the JVP formed a political grouping known as the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA). In February, President Kumaratunga dissolved Parliament and called for fresh elections. In these elections, which took place in April 2004, the UPFA received 45% of the vote, with the UNP receiving 37% of the vote. While it did not win enough seats to command a majority in Parliament, the UPFA was able to form a government and appoint a cabinet headed by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The JVP later broke with the SLFP and left the government, but has often supported it from outside.
Presidential elections were held in November 2005, with Mahinda Rajapaksa becoming President, and Ratnasiri Wickramanayake becoming Prime Minister. President Rajapaksa stood for re-election 2 years before the end of his term, in January 2010, and was reelected by a margin of 18% over the opposition candidate, retired Army General Sarath Fonseka. The presidential elections were soon followed by a large victory for Rajapaksa’s UPFA coalition in April 2010 parliamentary elections, where it captured 144 out of 225 seats possible, just shy of a two-thirds majority. The remaining parliamentary seats were secured by the United National Front (60), the Tamil National Alliance (14), and the Democratic National Alliance (7).
Communal Crisis
Historical divisions continue to have an impact on Sri Lankan society and politics. From independence, the Tamil minority has been uneasy with the country's unitary form of government and apprehensive that the Sinhalese majority would abuse Tamil rights. Those fears were reinforced when S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike triumphed in the 1956 elections after appealing to Sinhalese nationalism. His declaration that Sinhala was the country's official language--an act felt by Tamils to be a denigration of their own tongue--was the first in a series of steps over the following decades that appeared discriminatory to Tamils. Tamils also protested government educational policies and agriculture programs that encouraged Sinhalese farmers from the south to move to newly irrigated lands in the east. The decades following 1956 saw intermittent outbreaks of communal violence and growing radicalization among Tamil groups. By the mid-1970s Tamil politicians were moving from support for federalism to a demand for a separate Tamil state--"Tamil Eelam"--in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, areas of traditional Tamil settlement. In the 1977 elections, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) won all the seats in Tamil areas on a platform of separatism. Other groups--particularly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers)--sought an independent state by force.
In 1983, the death of 13 Sinhalese soldiers at the hands of the LTTE unleashed the largest outburst of communal violence in the country's history. Hundreds of Tamils were killed in Colombo and elsewhere, tens of thousands were left homeless, and more than 100,000 fled to south India. The north and east became the scene of bloodshed as security forces attempted to suppress the LTTE and other militant groups. Terrorist incidents occurred in Colombo and other cities. Each side in the conflict accused the other of violating human rights. The conflict assumed an international dimension when the Sri Lankan Government accused India of supporting the Tamil insurgents.
In October 1997, the U.S. Government designated the LTTE as a foreign terrorist organization under provisions of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and has maintained this designation since then, most recently redesignating the group in October of 2003. The U.S. Government in November 2007 froze the U.S.-held assets of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation, a charitable organization associated with the LTTE, and in February 2009, the U.S. froze the assets of the Maryland-based Tamil Foundation, on suspicion that they were funneling money to the LTTE.
Indian Peacekeeping
By mid-1987, India intervened in the conflict by air-dropping supplies to prevent what it felt was harsh treatment and starvation of the Tamil population in the Jaffna Peninsula caused by an economic blockade by Colombo. Under a July 29, 1987, accord (the Indo-Lanka Accord) signed by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President Jayewardene, the Sri Lankan Government made a number of concessions to Tamil demands, which included devolution of power to the provinces, merger--subject to later referendum--of the northern and eastern provinces, and official status for the Tamil language. India agreed to establish order in the north and east with an Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) and to cease assisting Tamil insurgents. Militant groups, although initially reluctant, agreed to surrender their arms to the IPKF.
Within weeks, however, the LTTE declared its intent to continue its armed struggle for an independent Tamil Eelam and refused to disarm. The IPKF found itself engaged in a bloody police action against the LTTE. Further complicating the return to peace was a burgeoning Sinhalese insurgency in the south. The JVP, relatively quiescent since the 1971 insurrection, began to reassert itself in 1987. Capitalizing on opposition to the Indo-Lankan Accord in the Sinhalese community, the JVP launched an intimidation campaign against supporters of the accord. Numerous UNP and other government supporters were assassinated. The government, relieved of its security burden by the IPKF in the north and east, intensified its efforts in the south. The JVP was crushed but at a high cost in human lives.
From April 1989 through June 1990, the government engaged in direct communications with the LTTE leadership. In the meantime, fighting between the LTTE and the IPKF escalated in the north. India withdrew the last of its forces from Sri Lanka in early 1990, and fighting between the LTTE and the government resumed. Both the LTTE and government forces committed serious human rights violations. In January 1995, the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE agreed to a cessation of hostilities as a preliminary step in a government-initiated plan for peace negotiations. After 3 months, however, the LTTE unilaterally resumed hostilities. The government then adopted a policy of military engagement with the Tigers, with government forces liberating Jaffna from LTTE control by mid-1996 and moving against LTTE positions in the northern part of the country called the Vanni. An LTTE counteroffensive begun in October 1999 reversed most government gains and by May 2000 threatened government forces in Jaffna. Heavy fighting continued into 2001.
Peace Process, Resumption of Conflict, and Conclusion of Fighting
In December 2001, with the election of a new UNP government, the LTTE and government declared unilateral cease-fires. In February 2002, the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) and LTTE signed a ceasefire agreement sponsored by peace process facilitator Norway. Peace talks began in Norway in December 2002. The Tigers dropped out of talks in February 2003, however, claiming they were being marginalized. In July 2004, the first suicide bomb since 2001 struck Colombo.
In March 2004, Eastern Tiger commander Karuna broke with the LTTE, going underground with his supporters. In March 2006, the Karuna faction registered a political party, the Tamil People's Liberation Tigers (TMVP). The LTTE and the Karuna faction began targeting each other in low-level attacks. In late 2007, Sivanesethurai Chandrakanthan ("Pillaiyan") took over the leadership of the TMVP. In March 2008, Karuna left the TMVP and joined President Rajapaksa’s SLFP as Minister for National Reconciliation.
Over 30,000 Sri Lankans died in the December 2004 tsunami, and hundreds of thousands of others fled their homes. In June 2005, the GSL and LTTE reached an agreement to share $3 billion in international tsunami aid. However, the agreement was challenged in court and was never implemented. In August 2005, the LTTE assassinated Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil. Parliament passed a state of emergency regulation that has been renewed every month since then.
During the November 2005 presidential election, the LTTE enforced a voting boycott in areas under its control. As a result, perceived hard-liner and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) leader Mahinda Rajapaksa won by a narrow margin. Low-level violence between the LTTE and security forces escalated. In December 2005, pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) Joseph Pararajasingham was assassinated within a GSL high-security zone in the eastern town of Batticaloa.
In February 2006, exactly 4 years after the ceasefire agreement was signed, the GSL and LTTE renewed their commitment to the agreement at talks in Geneva. There was a lull in violence until April 2006, when an explosion rocked a Sinhalese market in Trincomalee, followed by limited Sinhalese backlash against Tamils. Several days later, an LTTE suicide bomber attacked the main army compound in Colombo, killing eight soldiers and seriously wounding Army Commander General Fonseka. The government retaliated with air strikes on Tiger targets. In June 2006, an LTTE suicide bomber succeeded in killing Army third-in-command General Kulatunga in a suburb of Colombo.
The European Union (EU) banned the LTTE as a terrorist organization on May 30, 2006. In June 2006, GSL and LTTE delegations flew to Oslo to discuss the future of the Scandinavian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The Tigers refused to sit for talks with the GSL and instead demanded the SLMM remove any monitors from EU-member nations.
Heavy fighting in August 2006, the worst since the 2002 ceasefire, killed hundreds of people and caused tens of thousands to flee their homes when the Tamil Tiger rebels clashed with government forces in the north and east. In September 2006, the government carried out the first major seizure of enemy territory by either side since the 2002 ceasefire when it drove Tamil Tiger rebels from the entrance of the strategic Trincomalee harbor.
In October 2006, the LTTE attacked a Navy bus convoy at a transit point in Habarana, killing 90 sailors, and a few days later, attacked the Sri Lankan Navy Headquarters in Galle, a major tourist destination in the far south. Peace talks in Geneva at the end of October ended with no progress. The LTTE attempted to assassinate the Defense Secretary by bombing his motorcade in December 2006, but he escaped unharmed.
Government troops took control of the LTTE's eastern stronghold of Vakarai in January 2007, resulting in thousands more internally displaced persons (IDPs). In March 2007, the Tamil Tiger rebels launched their first-ever air attack, which targeted the Katunayake Air Force base adjacent to Bandaranaike International Airport. By July 2007, however, the government had recaptured the remaining territory held in the Eastern Province from the Tigers. In November 2007, a Sri Lankan Air Force bomb killed LTTE political chief and number two leader, S.P. Tamilchelvan. Also during that month, the LTTE detonated a bomb in a busy Colombo shopping center, killing 17 and wounding many more.
In January 2008, the government announced that it was unilaterally abrogating the 2002 ceasefire agreement. Government forces stepped up their campaign to assert control over the northern areas still led by the LTTE. The LTTE resisted government advances into the north and carried out attacks on economic and civilian targets in the south.
In May 2008, elections were held for the first time to fill the newly created Eastern Provincial Council covering the Ampara, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee districts. Although opposition parties alleged widespread vote-rigging, the government's United People's Freedom Alliance in a coalition with the TMVP secured the majority in the new Provincial Council, and TMVP leader Sivanesethurai Chandrakanthan ("Pillaiyan") was sworn in by President Rajapaksa as Chief Minister.
The conflict entered a new phase in September 2008 when government forces initiated an offensive on LTTE, resulting in significant losses of LTTE territory. The government continued to capture territory in northern Sri Lanka through May 2009, when fighting became confined to a small area of land near Mullaitivu, where thousands of civilians were forcibly held by the LTTE in a government-designated "no fire zone". On May 19, the government declared victory over the LTTE as they reported the capture of remaining Tiger-held territory and the death of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The end of the military conflict resulted in nearly 300,000 internally displaced persons and allegations of potential violations of international humanitarian law and other harms committed by both sides in the final stages of the conflict. IDPs were initially detained at camps, primarily in Vavuniya area, but IDPs have been permitted freedom of movement since December 2009. Most IDPs have since returned to their home districts, staying primarily with host families. But many have not been resettled in their homes, due to the lingering presence of land mines and government-enforced high-security zones. To date, international non-governmental organizations, working in coordination with the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations, have removed a reported 1.1 million land mines. The humanitarian effort continues to progress--as of May 2010 it was estimated that 68,000 IDPs remained within the camps.
GOVERNMENT
Under the 1978 constitution, the president of the republic, directly elected for a 6-year term, is chief of state, head of government, and commander in chief of the armed forces. Responsible to Parliament for the exercise of duties under the constitution and laws, the president may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of Parliament with the concurrence of the Supreme Court.
The president appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers responsible to Parliament. The president's deputy is the prime minister, who leads the ruling party in Parliament. A parliamentary no-confidence vote requires dissolution of the cabinet and the appointment of a new one by the president.
Parliament is a unicameral 225-member legislature elected by universal suffrage and proportional representation to a 6-year term. The president may summon, suspend, or end a legislative session and dissolve Parliament. Parliament reserves the power to make all laws.
Sri Lanka's judiciary consists of a Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, and a number of subordinate courts. Sri Lanka's legal system reflects diverse cultural influences. Criminal law is fundamentally British. Basic civil law is Roman-Dutch. Laws pertaining to marriage, divorce, and inheritance are communal.
Under the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord of July 1987 and the 13th amendment to the constitution, the Government of Sri Lanka agreed to devolve significant authority to the provinces. Provincial Councils are directly elected for 5-year terms. The leader of the council majority serves as the province's chief minister; a provincial governor is appointed by the president. The councils possess limited powers in education, health, rural development, social services, agriculture, security, and local taxation. Many of these powers are shared or subject to central government oversight. As a result, the Provincial Councils have never functioned effectively. Devolution proposals under consideration as a means of finding a political solution to the ethnic conflict foresee a strengthening of the Provincial Councils, with greater autonomy from central control. Predating the accord are municipal, urban, and rural councils with limited powers.
Principal Government Officials
President--Mahinda Rajapaksa
Prime Minister--Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne
Ambassador to the United States--Jaliya Wickramasuriya
Ambassador to the United Nations--Palitha T.B. Kohona
Sri Lanka maintains an embassy in the United States at 2148 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-483-4025).
POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Sri Lanka's two major political parties--the UNP and the SLFP--have historically embraced democratic values, international nonalignment, and encouragement of Sinhalese culture. However, the SLFP-led coalition government under President Rajapaksa, aided by emergency regulations, has consolidated political power in the executive and limited media freedom and the role of civil society in Sri Lankan politics.
Sri Lanka has a multi-party democracy that enjoys considerable stability despite relatively high levels of political violence during its 26-year civil conflict. In May 2009, the government declared victory over the LTTE and the LTTE’s longtime leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed. The LTTE’s terrorist activities had generally been aimed at destabilizing Sri Lanka politically, economically, and socially. Economic targets included the airport in July 2001, the Colombo World Trade Center in October 1997, and the central bank in January 1996. In January 1998, the LTTE detonated a truck bomb in Kandy, damaging the Temple of the Tooth relic, the holiest Buddhist shrine in the country. After a lull following the 2002 ceasefire, LTTE-perpetrated terrorist bombings directed against politicians and civilian targets became more common in Colombo, Kandy, and elsewhere in the country. LTTE attacks on key political figures included the attempted assassinations of Social Affairs Minister Douglas Devananda in November 2007 and of Secretary of Defense Gothabaya Rajapaksa in December 2006, the assassination of Army General Kulatunga in June 2006, the attempted assassination of Army Commander General Fonseka in April 2006, the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005, the killing of the Industrial Development Minister by suicide bombing in June 2000, and the December 1999 attempted assassination of President Kumaratunga. The LTTE is also suspected of being behind the assassinations of two government ministers in early 2008.
In the year following the defeat of the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Government has faced widespread criticism on human rights issues. Shortly after his defeat in the January 2010 presidential election, retired Army General Sarath Fonseka was arrested and sequestered without facing formal charges. He eventually was charged with engaging in politics while still a serving military officer and corruption in military procurements and tried by two courts martial, which found him guilty in September 2010 and sentenced him to 30 months in prison and stripped him of his pension and all military honors. The Government of Sri Lanka received appeals from the international community that any action against the former Army general be pursued in accordance with Sri Lankan law and consistent with Sri Lanka’s political traditions, but many observers regarded Fonseka's prosecution and conviction as politically motivated. The Sri Lankan Government received praise for pardoning Tamil journalist J.S. Tissanayagam in May 2010, but concerns remain about the state of media freedom and the ability of Sri Lankans to express dissent against government policies and actions.
ECONOMY
Sri Lanka is a lower-middle income developing nation with a gross domestic product of about $50 billion (official exchange rate). This translates into a per capita income of $5,100 (purchasing power parity). Sri Lanka's 91% literacy rate in local languages and life expectancy of 75 years rank well above those of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. English language ability is relatively high, but has declined significantly since the 1970s.
Sri Lanka's income inequality is severe, with striking differences between rural and urban areas. About 15% of the country's population remains impoverished. The effects of 26 years of civil conflict, falling agricultural labor productivity, lack of income-earning opportunities for the rural population, high inflation, and poor infrastructure outside the Western Province were impediments to poverty reduction. There are reports that poverty has been decreasing significantly in the last few years.
In 1978, Sri Lanka shifted away from a socialist orientation and opened its economy to foreign investment. But the pace of reform has been uneven. A period of aggressive economic reform under the UNP-led government that ruled from 2002 to 2004 was followed by a more statist approach under President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Despite a brutal civil war that began in 1983, economic growth has averaged around 5% in the last 10 years. Due to the global recession and escalation of violence during the final stages of the war, GDP growth slowed to 3.5% in 2009 and foreign reserves fell sharply. Business confidence rebounded quickly with the end of the war and an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement in July 2009. Consequently, Sri Lanka recorded strong growth in 2010, as GDP grew by 8%. Official foreign reserves, including borrowings, reached $6.6 billion (5.9 months of imports). The post-war economic re-integration of northern and eastern provinces has boosted agriculture and fisheries, although a large area of agricultural land was damaged by floods in early 2011. Reconstruction of the war-damaged areas as well as infrastructure development throughout the country is also fueling growth. Tourism has rebounded strongly to record levels. Exports grew by a healthy 17% in 2010. Foreign remittance inflows from Sri Lankans working abroad swelled to $4.1 billion in 2010 from $3.3 billion in 2009. The Colombo Stock Exchange was the second-best performing market for the second year in a row. Inflation, which had reached double digit levels during the war years, was around 7% in 2010. Inflation pressures are building, and inflation reached 8.6% in March 2011. Foreign direct investment (FDI) remained relatively low in 2010 at about $450 million. The FDI target for 2011 is $1 billion, including investments in the tourism sector.
Government fiscal control remains a concern. The budget deficit reached almost 10% of GDP in 2009, but was forecast to fall to around 8% of GDP in 2010.
President Rajapaksa's broad economic strategy outlined in his 2005 and 2010 election manifestos, "Mahinda Chintana" (Mahinda's Thoughts), guides government economic policy. Mahinda Chintana policies focus on poverty alleviation and steering investment to disadvantaged areas; developing the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector; promotion of agriculture; and developing Sri Lanka to become the regional hub of ports, aviation, commerce, knowledge, and energy. The government has developed a 10-year development framework to boost growth through a combination of large infrastructure projects. The Rajapaksa government rejects the privatization of state enterprises, including "strategic" enterprises such as state-owned banks, airports, and electrical utilities. Instead, it plans to retain ownership and management of these enterprises and make them profitable.
The Mahinda Chintana plan aims to double Sri Lanka’s per capita income to $4,000 within 6 years. To do so, Sri Lanka requires GDP growth well over 8%, and the investment rate needs to rise from 25% of GDP to 35% of GDP.
Sri Lanka’s economy will continue its post-war resurgence and is expected to grow strongly in the immediate term. Although Sri Lanka should maintain moderate economic growth, Sri Lanka needs to enact important policy reforms to reach its full economic potential. Sri Lanka has set the goal of improving its business climate, but must follow through with reforms to decrease bureaucratic red tape; increase transparency, particularly in government procurement; and increase the predictability of government policies. Sri Lanka must also continue to improve its fiscal discipline. The 26-year conflict and high government expenditure have contributed to Sri Lanka's high public debt load (83% of GDP in 2009).
Sri Lanka depends on a strong global economy for investment and for expansion of its export base. It has been advised to diversify export products and destinations to make use of the Indo-Lanka and Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreements and to benefit from rapid economic growth in emerging East Asia. Sri Lanka's exports to the European Union qualified for duty-free entry under the EU Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus market access program, granted in 2005 to help Sri Lanka rebuild after the 2004 tsunami. However, after a lengthy review process, the European Union suspended the GSP Plus market access benefit in August 2010, due to Sri Lanka’s poor human rights record. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka’s exports grew strongly by over 17% in 2010, despite the loss of this benefit. Sri Lanka continues to receive limited tariff preferences under the EU GSP program. Sri Lanka also receives preferential access to the U.S. market under the U.S. GSP program. This program has been temporarily suspended pending congressional approval.
The service sector is the largest component of GDP at almost 60%. In 2010, service sector growth increased to 8% from about 3% in 2009. Tourism, shipping, aviation, telecom, trading, and financial services were the main contributors to growth. Public administration and defense expenditures increased in recent years due to hostilities, and there has been an expansion of public sector employment. Despite the end of the war, defense expenditures remain at around 3.9% of GDP. There is a growing information technology sector, especially information technology training and software development.
Industry accounts for almost 30% of GDP. Manufacturing is the largest industrial subsector, accounting for 17% of GDP. The construction sector accounts for 7% of GDP. Mining and quarrying account for 2% of GDP. Electricity, gas, and water account for 2% of GDP. Within the manufacturing sector, food, beverage, and tobacco is the largest subsector in terms of value addition. Textiles, apparel, and leather is the second-largest sector. The third-largest sector in value added terms is chemical, petroleum, rubber, and plastic products.
Agriculture has lost its relative importance to the Sri Lankan economy in recent decades. It employs 31% of the working population, but accounts for only about 11% of GDP. Rice, the staple cereal, is cultivated extensively. The plantation sector consists of tea, rubber, and coconut; in recent years, the tea crop has made significant contributions to export earnings. Domestic agriculture such as rice and other food crops improved significantly with the return of peace to the eastern and northern provinces. However, floods in early 2011 destroyed many crops and livestock, including rice, in the main cultivation period.
Trade and Foreign Assistance
Sri Lanka's exports (mainly apparel, tea, rubber, gems and jewelry) were estimated at $8.3 billion and imports (mainly oil, textiles, food, and machinery) were estimated at $13.5 billion for 2010. The resulting large trade deficit was financed primarily by remittances from Sri Lankan expatriate workers, foreign assistance, and commercial borrowing. Sri Lanka must diversify its exports beyond garments and tea. The information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is small but growing.
Exports to the United States, Sri Lanka's most important single-country market, were estimated to be around $1.77 billion for 2010, or 21% of total exports. The United States is Sri Lanka's second-biggest market for garments, taking almost 40% of total garment exports. (The EU as a whole is Sri Lanka's biggest export market and largest apparel buyer.) India is Sri Lanka's largest source of imports, accounting for over 20% of imports. United States exports to Sri Lanka were estimated to be around $178 million for 2010, consisting primarily of machinery and mechanical appliances, medical and scientific equipment, electrical apparatus, wheat, plastics, lentils, and paper.
Sri Lanka is a large recipient of foreign assistance, with China, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Japan, and other donors disbursing loans totaling almost $1.0 billion in 2009. China is a major lender for infrastructure projects, such as a new port, a coal power plant, and roads. Iran is also a major lender to Sri Lanka and has committed $450 million for the Uma Oya multipurpose irrigation project and $111 for rural electrification. Iran provides an interest-free credit facility for oil imports. Iran has also promised assistance for modernization of Sri Lanka's only oil refinery, though no firm commitments are in place. The Government of India is providing loans for the railway sector. Foreign grants amounted to $230 million in 2009. There continue to be problems with projects awarded without tenders.
Labor
The unemployment rate declined to 4.5% in fourth-quarter 2010, from 5.7% in fourth-quarter 2009. Unemployment is highest in the 20-29 age group. The rate of unemployment among women and high school and college graduates has been proportionally higher than the rate for less-educated workers. The government has embarked on educational reforms it hopes will lead to better preparation of students and better matches between graduates and jobs.
Approximately 20% of the 7.6 million-strong work force is unionized, but union membership is declining. There are more than 1,900 registered trade unions, many of which have 50 or fewer members, and 19 federations. Many unions have political affiliations. The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union are the two largest unions, representing workers in the plantation sector. The president of the CWC also is Minister of Livestock and Rural Community Development. Other strong and influential trade unions include the Ceylon Mercantile Union, Sri Lanka Nidhahas Sevaka Sangamaya, Jathika Sevaka Sangayama, Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions, Ceylon Bank Employees Union, Union of Post and Telecommunication Officers, Conference of Public Sector Independent Trade Unions, and the JVP-aligned Inter-Company Trade Union.
Public sector trade unions usually resist government moves to restructure state-owned corporations. The Government of Sri Lanka has no plans to privatize any state-owned enterprises, and in some cases the government has reversed prior privatizations.
There are 1.7 million Sri Lankan citizens working abroad. A majority are women working as housemaids. Remittances from migrant workers, estimated at around $4.1 billion in 2010, is the most important source of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka, surpassing earnings from apparel exports.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Sri Lanka traditionally follows a nonaligned foreign policy but has been seeking closer relations with the United States since December 2001. It participates in multilateral diplomacy, particularly at the United Nations, where it seeks to promote sovereignty, independence, and development in the developing world. Sri Lanka was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). It also is a member of the Commonwealth, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, and the Colombo Plan. Sri Lanka continues its active participation in the NAM, while also stressing the importance it places on regionalism by playing a strong role in SAARC.
U.S.-SRI LANKAN RELATIONS
The United States enjoys cordial relations with Sri Lanka that are based, in large part, on shared democratic traditions. U.S. policy toward Sri Lanka is characterized by respect for its independence, sovereignty, and moderate nonaligned foreign policy; support for the country's unity, territorial integrity, and democratic institutions; and encouragement of its social and economic development. The United States is a strong supporter of ethnic reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
U.S. assistance has totaled more than $2 billion since Sri Lanka's independence in 1948. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), it has contributed to Sri Lanka's economic growth with projects designed to reduce unemployment, improve housing, develop the Colombo Stock Exchange, modernize the judicial system, and improve competitiveness. At the June 2003 Tokyo Donors' Conference on Sri Lanka, the United States pledged $54 million, including $40.4 million of USAID funding. Following the 2004 tsunami, the United States provided $135 million in relief and reconstruction assistance. The United States provided over $51.4 million in humanitarian assistance in 2009, and pledged at least $34.5 million for 2010.
In addition, the International Broadcast Bureau (IBB)--formerly Voice of America (VOA)--operates a radio-transmitting station in Sri Lanka. The U.S. Armed Forces maintain a limited military-to-military relationship with the Sri Lanka defense establishment.
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