Palitha T. B. Kohona, a Sri Lankan born diplomat, was the former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations (UN).Palitha Kohona to chair UN committee
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'', 3 October 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2014 Until August 2009, he was the

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

to the

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of the

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and was the former

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of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process. He was also a member of the Government delegation at the talks held in February and October 2006

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with the

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

. He also led the Government delegation to Oslo for talks with the LTTE. He is the current ambassador of Sri Lanka to China. He is a citizen of both Sri Lanka and Australia.Boas, Gideon (2011)
Australia left wanting when allegations of war crimes arise
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'', 4 April 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2014

Early life and education

Kohona, who hails from

Matale Matale ( Sinhala: මාතලේ, , , ) is a major city in Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative capital and largest urbanised city of Matale District. Matale is also the second largest urbanised and populated city in Central P ...

, He received his primary education and secondary education in Sri Lanka at St Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He obtained an

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(Hons) at the

University of Sri Lanka The University of Sri Lanka (, ) was the public university system of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978. The university system was dissolved in 1978 and its six campuses turned into independent universities: the University of Peradeniya, the University o ...

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from the

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on International Trade Law and a Doctorate from

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, UK, for the thesis 'The Regulation of International Trade through Law,' subsequently published by Kluwer, Netherlands. He is also an

Attorney-at-Law Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the Unit ...

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Sri Lanka and the final judicial instance of record. Established in 1801 and empowered to exercise its powers subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Sri Lanka ...

Diplomatic career

Kohona was the Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2009. Kohona was the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York from 2009 to 2015. During this period he was elected as the Chair of the UN GA Sixth Committee (Legal) in 2013. He was the Co Chair of the UN Working Group on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, and Chair of the UN Committee on Israeli Practices in the Occupied Arab Territories. He was a member of the delegation to the

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in 2006 and 2008. He has led official level delegations to a range of countries on bilateral and multilateral 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

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United Nations

Prior to that he was the Chief of the United Nations Treaty Section in New York from 1995 to 2006. At the UN he was responsible for introducing major managerial innovations and was awarded 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 opening of the General Assembly in September, which has become a regular feature in the UN calendar. The Treaty Event established a temporary office for the Treaty Section in the Kuwaiti Boat Room (lobby of the General Assembly) to facilitate heads of state signing select treaties as they entered the UN. 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, 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 The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 16 ...

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 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

* Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, 2009 - 2015. * Chair, UN GA Sixth Committee (Legal), 2013 * Co Chair, UN Working Group on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, 2010 - 2015 Chair, UN Committee on Israeli Practices in the Occupied Territories, 2010 - 2015 * Special Advisor to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

on the Peace Process and Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), April 2006 - January 2007. * Member of the Sri Lankan delegation to the UN GA, 2006 - 2014 * Leader of the UN legal delegation to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

at the invitation of the DPRK Government in 2005. * Patron – Renewable Energy and International Law * Patron – Making Art Everywhere *Advisory Board, Temple of the Tooth Relic, Kandy, 2016 * Chief of the United Nations Treaty Section, New York, 1995 - 2006. * In 1992 he was attached to the

Uruguay Round The Uruguay Round was the 8th round of multilateral trade negotiations (MTN) conducted within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), spanning from 1986 to 1993 and embracing 123 countries as "contracting parties". The ...

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

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.

References

External links

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka

The Official Website of SCOPP

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohona, Palitha Sinhalese people Sri Lankan civil servants Sri Lankan diplomats Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia Australian diplomats Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Permanent representatives of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia