Shortly after the Easter Sunday bombings carried out in Sri Lanka, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations invited Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Michèle
Coninsx to visit Colombo to conduct bilateral consultations with high-level representatives of the Government. The purpose of the consultations, which were conducted from 6 to 8 June 2019, was to obtain updated information concerning Sri Lanka’s most urgent technical assistance needs and to assess how CTED, the Committee, and other relevant United Nations agencies could assist Sri Lanka to implement Security Council resolutions 1373 (2001), 1624 (2005), 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017) and other relevant Council resolutions in specific legal, institutional, and operational areas. The consultations also provided an opportunity for Sri Lanka to brief CTED on the nature and scope of the current terrorist threat to its territory.
During her visit to Colombo, ASG Coninsx met with the President; the Prime Minister; the Minister for Foreign Affairs; the Minister of Finance; the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence; the Speaker of Parliament; the Chairperson of Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission; the leader of Sri Lanka’s Muslim Congress; the Opposition Leader in Parliament; the leader of the Tamil National Alliance; and the Commander of the Navy. ASG Coninsx also met with representatives of numerous civil society organizations. In addition, the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence organized, and presided over, a roundtable discussion that included the Foreign Secretary and other representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the State Intelligence Services; the Terrorism Investigation Division and special branches of the police; the Departments of Customs and Immigration; the Attorney-General’s Office; and the financial intelligence unit. The meetings were also attended by the United Nations Resident Coordinator and other representatives of the United Nations Country Team.
ASG Coninsx expressed her gratitude to the Government of Sri Lanka for hosting and organizing the visit, as well as to the Resident Coordinator and her team for all their participation and support.