UN calls Lankan Muslim community to work closely with SL Peacebuilding Plan

• UN Senior Official Jenca writes to Rishad
• ‘UN Secretary General aware of your plight’: Asst SG Jenca
• Says UN endorses SL Peacebuilding Priority Plan
• ‘SL Peacebuilding Plan coming in next years’: UN
• Top Diplomat Jenca was also rep to EU Security Committee   

Leader of All Ceylon Makkal Congress and Minister of Industry and

Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen (left) Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenca  

The UN is aware of the plight of the Lankan Muslim community. The global intergovernmental body also calls the Lankan Muslim community to closely work with its Resident Coordinator in Colombo to make Sri Lanka’s Peacebuilding Priority Plan a reality and create ‘tangible results’.

“I encourage you and the Muslim community at large to work in close collaboration with the (UN) Resident Coordinator to turn this complex agenda into tangible results,” stressed Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenca.

UN Assistant Secretary-General Jenca, a former top Diplomat and a Representative of Slovakia to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union, was writing to Leader of All Ceylon Makkal Congress and Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on 2 November to Minister Bathiudeen’s communique to UN in which ACMC Leader Bathiudeen detailed a number of key issues for the Muslim community of Sri Lanka vis-à-vis the country’s peacebuilding and reconciliation agenda.

Assistant Secretary-General Jenca is responsible for overseeing the divisions in the Department of Political Affairs dealing with the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East and West Asia, as well as the Decolonisation Unit and the Division for Palestinian Rights.  Assistant Secretary-General Jenca served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan since 2008. He was previously Director of the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, as well as Ambassador and Head of Mission to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

“The Secretary General is very much aware of the plight of the Muslim community, in particular those who have been directly or indirectly affected by the conflict. During his recent visit to Sri Lanka, he welcomed the opportunity to meet with government officials, Members of Parliament, religious leaders as well as civil society and youth to take stock of an inclusive process, including on transitional justice and constitutional reform, to achieve reconciliation and sustainable peace for all Sri Lankans,” says UN Assistant Secretary-General Jenca, and adds: “In Sri Lanka, the Secretary General also endorsed Sri Lanka’s Peacebuilding Priority Plan which provides a framework to make progress in the areas of transitional justice and accountability, reconciliation, good governance, resettlement and durable solutions. The plan will be implemented over the next years, during which the UN will continue to consult with all stakeholders to ensure it addresses critical peacebuilding needs. I encourage you and the Muslim community at large to work in close collaboration with the Resident Coordinator to turn this complex agenda into tangible results.”

Previously, Assistant Secretary-General Jenca was also the Ambassador and Representative of Slovakia to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union, Ambassador of Slovakia to Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, including positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia and diplomatic missions in Ireland and Mexico.