LKI Remembers Late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar During Vesak

May 7, 2020    Reading Time: < 1 minute

Reading Time: < 1 min read

Image Credits: Nilupul Gunawardena

On this Vesak Day, the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies remembers the Late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar for his efforts towards the international recognition of Vesak as a day of observance and the contribution of Buddhism to human spirituality.

At the 54th session of the UN General Assembly in 1999, the late Foreign Minister proposed that the UN commemorate Vesak as a day of Buddhist observance, in recognition of Buddhism’s contribution to human spirituality. His proposal to the UN was based on an earlier recommendation made at the World Buddhist Conference held in Colombo in 1998.

In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 54/115, moved by the then Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar. As a result of late Minister Kadirgamar’s efforts, Vesak Day is now internationally accorded as a United Nations Observance Day.