Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
Thank you, Honorable Deputy Speaker. Dear Excellences, dear friends, in line with the topic of contemporary challenges to global order, with the focus on the IndoPacific, my speech is organized around three main themes defining the contemporary conditions very broadly and dwelling a little bit on the changes. Sri Lanka’s thoughts are always with peace. We are a small, peaceful country and we’ve had historically a very broad footprint in global initiatives, including the United Nations.
The three areas are: the great power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region, which is actually now present globally; the post-pandemic regional and global economic challenges; and last but not least, climate change. So let us note that all of us are deeply affected by all of these topics which are deeply interwoven and include cross-cutting issues such as inequality, legacies of conflict, economic vulnerability and social oppression.
On the topic of great power rivalry, coming from a small island nation in the Indian Ocean, the challenge my country Sri Lanka faces in the current climate of great power competition is excruciating, maintaining a footprint inevitably on all state affairs, especially in a post-pandemic climate of vulnerability.
I’m sure all of the Indo-Pacific region is likely to in one way or another face the heat of geopolitical competition in the foreseeable future, spread out across economic, military and sociopolitical spheres. The current war in Ukraine is a chilling reminder of the contemporary challenges the world order faces with power rivalry. This also sheds light on the horror of technology leading a new paradigm of modern warfare in its most brutal form.
Cutting-edge technological advances like artificial intelligence are taking warfare to unprecedented paradigms in terms of the threat to human life. AI represents the danger technology advancement poses to humankind in general. We see artificial intelligence–driven drones, hypersonic technologies, cutting-edge weapons, and new-era weapons at play, while the world watches in horror imagining what could be next. Technologies like ChatGPT are changing the world in every possible sphere as we speak, and great power rivalry, if it were to escalate, would possibly take the world to an unthinkable abyss given the technologies currently developed and at its disposal.
Also, what is notable is a challenge our cherished human rights values would face in light of complex technological advancements and contemporary geopolitical challenges. As for the economic challenges, global wealth concentration has continued to rise, while other indicators of progress, like wealth equity and sustainability, signal major concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic and great power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region are aspects of the situation for Asia and South Asia in particular.
Inequality is one of the greatest concerns with the current economic landscape. Despite progress in some countries, income and wealth are increasingly concentrated at the top. Credit CC Global Wealth Report calculates that the world’s top 1% owns over 43% of the world’s wealth. Inequality also affects unemployment and fuels nationalism. As you know, friends, nationalism is the major crisis that’s getting a lot of attention and a lot of anxiety the world over. We all know the underpinning reasons are always one way or the other related to economic inequality, which affects unemployment and fuels nationalism, leading to global unrest, posing a significant challenge to the existing global order. This, coupled with great power competition, creates a dangerous environment for democracy and for the existing powers that be. Though there has been a global decline in inequality, it is mostly in high-income countries. Middle- and low-income countries have undergone immense crises, especially in a post-COVID situation.
Unemployment and poor living conditions affect women, marginalized groups and youth most severely, leading to above-mentioned unrest and disproportionate national outcomes. These could at times form the basis for national rivalries and international rivalry and interventions, creating a steppingstone for more conflicts and global instability. Also, let’s not forget the global debt situation. Global debt is a significant crisis to contend with. My country, Sri Lanka, had a massive crisis on debt repayment and had a painful economic meltdown affecting millions of people, including women and children.
Rising debt across the world has been further worsened by the COVID pandemic. Not only have we seen three debt waves ending in financial crisis for emerging and developing economies since 1970, but debt-to-GDP ratios rose to over 200% following the last global financial crash in 2008. We have reason to believe that the situation will become worse over the next couple of years, given what happened during the last two years. This ballooning debt will lead to record levels of public debt through the 2020s, leading to devalued currencies, lowering relative buying power in low- and middle-income countries, and a deeper unemployment situation.
Last but not least is climate change. In Asia Pacific and the world over, many countries are facing environmental concerns including climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion. Human-led climate change is now an established fact. It is largely related to the externalities of society’s development, with greenhouse gas emissions and land use causing the majority of effects including extreme weather, which we see manifesting in my country, Sri Lanka. Also of note are rising sea levels, melting ice caps, floods, droughts, biodiversity loss, public health emergencies such as the COVID pandemic, agricultural crises and mass migration along with land loss.
To conclude, let me mention that we are heading to an extremely uncertain time in history, spanning multifaceted domains. The only way forward would be through dialogue, multilateral cooperation, technological innovation and an unwavering commitment to global peace.
That’s the beauty of this forum which we, you and I, are part of today. May the noble objectives of the Universal Peace Federation shed light and a glimmer of hope in these trying, difficult times. Thank you.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.