UN ADOPTS INTERNATIONAL VESAK DAY
Colombo ? A UN Resolution, co-sponsored by 34-member states seeking the international recognition of the day of Vesak, was adopted by consensus, at the 54th UN General Assembly in New York on 13th December 1999. A press release from the Foreign Office in Colombo said the resolution on ?International Recognition of the Day of Vesak? was co-sponsored by all SAARC countries and many Asian Buddhist countries as well as other states from the rest of the world, including Russia and USA. It was significant that many of the countries who supported the resolution were thosewhere the majority of the population are from other faiths .
The idea for international recognition of Vesak, was first raised at the International Buddhist Conference, held id Colombo in November 1998 and presented before the General Assembly by the Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lakshman Kadirgarmar in his address to the UNGA Plenary Debate in September 1999. The draft resolution recognizes that ?the day of Vesak of the day of the fool moon in the month of May each year is the day most sacred to Buddhists, who commemorate on that day the birth of the Buddha, his attainment of enlightenment and his passing away.? Further, considering that international recognition at United Nations Headquarters and other UN offices would constitute acknowledgement of the contribution Buddhism, one of the oldest religions in the world, has made, for over two and a half millennia, and continues to make to the spirituality of humanity, the resolution states that ?without cost to the UN, appropriate arrangements shall be made for international observances of vesak at the United Nations Headquarters and other UN offices.?
In his statement made to the UNGA, Sri Lanka?s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador John De Saram in introducing the resolution in the General Assembly had noted that ?the General Assembly had, in the past recognized many of the diverse concerns of our complex world. The General Assembly, in so doing has acted in the knowledge that peoples is all regions of the world look, fervently, to the United Nations and in particular to the General Assembly for at least an acknowledgement of their concerns, of their hopes, of their beliefs.?
(WFB NEWSLETTER P.7 FEBRUARY B.E.2543/2000) |
