Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake, addressing the Conference on Disarmament (CD) on 20 August 2026, reiterated Sri Lanka’s longstanding position that outer space is the common heritage of humankind and must be preserved exclusively for peaceful purposes. He stated that Sri Lanka firmly rejected any strategic doctrine seeking to turn outer space into a war fighting domain or battlefield for geopolitical rivalry, stressing that all space activities must adhere to the UN Charter and the Outer Space Treaty.

Highlighting key outcomes of recent multilateral deliberations on outer space disarmament, Sri Lanka emphasized that while voluntary Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures (TCBMs) could serve as useful interim steps to build trust, they could not substitute a comprehensive, legally binding and multilaterally verifiable treaty prohibiting the placement of weapons in outer space.

Ambassador Dassanayake also congratulated the newly appointed Permanent Representative of Pakistan on assuming the Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament and conveyed Sri Lanka’s best wishes for a successful tenure.

Sri Lanka further drew the attention of the Conference to the existential threat posed by space debris in Near-Earth orbit, stressing that such debris disproportionately affected non-spacefaring developing countries that relied heavily on global space infrastructure. Calling for concrete and effective debris mitigation measures, Sri Lanka cautioned that efforts to address space threats must not become a pretext for discriminatory restrictions that hindered developing countries’ access to space technologies essential for climate resilience, disaster management and sustainable development.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva

23 August 2026