Palitha Kohona

Palitha T.B. Kohona is the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Sri Lanka and former Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP). He was also a member of the Government delegation at the talks held in February and October 2006 Geneva, Switzerland with the LTTE. He also led the Government delegation to Oslo for talks with the LTTE. He is both a citizen of Sri Lanka and Australia.

Early life & education

Dr. Kohona who hails from Matale, received his secondary education in Sri Lanka at S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia. The Warden of S Thomas College has described him as one its outstanding students.He obtained a LL.B (Hons) at the University of Sri Lanka, LL.M from the Australian National University on International Trade Law and a Doctorate from Cambridge University, UK, for the thesis – ‘The Regulation of International Trade through Law,’ subsequently published by Kluwer, Netherlands. He is also an Attorney-at-Law, Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

Diplomatic career

Dr. Kohona is the Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. He was a member of the delegation to the UN General Assembly in 2006 and 2008. He has led official level delegations to a range of countries on bilateral matters. Previously he was the Secretary-General of the Government Peace Secretariat (2006) during which time he participated in two rounds of peace negotiations with the LTTE in Geneva and led the delegation to a round organised in Oslo.

UN

Prior to that he was the Chief of the UN Treaty Section in New York from 1995 to 2006. At the UN he was responsible for introducing major managerial innovations and was awarded the the UN 21 PIN for superior performance and efficiency. He managed the computerisation of the UN treaty database which contains over one million pages of information and which now receives over 1.5 million hits per month from around the world. The UN treaty collection consists of over 50,000 bilateral treaties registered with the UN Secretariat and over 500 multilateral treaties deposited with the UN Secretary-General covering the spectrum of international interaction. The hand books pertaining to the treaty practice of the Secretary-General were prepared under his guidance. He also initiated the UN treaty training programme as part of an outreach programme for familiaring countries with the UN treaty collection. He also initiated the UN Treaty Event, now held during the General Assembly, which has become a regular feature in the UN calendar. Given his proactive approach to UN reform, he was assigned to the results based budgeting spearhead group and to a range of other groups working on Secretariat reform.

Australia

Prior to joining the UN, Dr. Kohona was with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia. His last position there was as head of the Trade and Investment Section of the Department. Previously he was assigned to the Uruguay Round negotiating team of Australia with specific responsibility for the institutional mechanism and the dispute settlement unit. In 1989 he was posted to the Australian Permanent Mission in Geneva with specific responsibility for environmental issues. In Geneva he chaired the negotiating group that developed the compliance mechanism under the Montreal Protocol to the Convention on the Ozone Layer and was a member of the Working Group on the liability mechanism under the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes. In 1988 Dr Kohona led the Australian delegation to the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board. He returned to Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Mahinda Rajapakse and served as the Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) from April 2006 until January 2007.

Positions held by Dr Palitha Kohona

* With effect from 6th April 2006 Special Advisor to the President on the Peace Process and Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP).
* Leader of the UN legal delegation to North Korea at the invitation of the DPRK Government,in 2005.
* Patron - Renewable Energy and International Law
* Patron - Making Art Everywhere
* Chief of the United Nations Treaty Section, New York since 1995.
* In 1992 he was attached to the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations institutional mechanisms and dispute settlement unit and headed the Trade and Investment Section of the Department in Australia under the GATT/WTO.
* In 1989 - 92 chaired the negotiating group that developed the compliance mechanism under the Montreal Protocol to the Convention on the Ozone Layer in Geneva and was a member of the Working Group on the liability mechanism under the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes.
* 1989 posted to the Australian Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva
* In 1988 led the Australian delegation to the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board
* Participated in a series of bilateral and multilateral negotiations on aviation matters, trade relations, investment protection, fisheries matters and later led some of the delegations.
* Treaty Section of the Ministry
* Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia since 1983.

ee also

*Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka)

External links

* [http://www.slmfa.gov.lk Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka]
* [http://www.peaceinsrilanka.org/ The Official Website of SCOPP]
* [http://www.peaceinsrilanka.lk]