UNESCO Executive Board 

Sri Lanka joined UNESCO on 14 November 1949, even before joining the United Nations in 1955.

The UNESCO membership consists of 193 Member States out which 58 Member States comprise the Executive Board, to which Members States are elected every 4 years at the General Conference in October. The Executive Board guides the policy and direction of UNESCO, as approved by its member states in General Conference, which is the supreme policy making organ of UNESCO.

Sri Lanka has served on the Executive Board on 4 earlier occasions as follows:

1968-1974             Mr. Frederick de Silva

1987-1989             Mr. Nissanka Parakrama Wijeyaratne

1989-1991             Mr. Ananda P. Guruge

2003-2007             Mr. Karunasena Kodituwakku, Mr. Mangala  Samaraweera, Mr. Susil Premajayantha  

2008-2011             Mr. Susil Premajayantha

The General Conference assembles all the Member States of UNESCO every two years in October. H.E. Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumaratunga, former President of Sri Lanka was a special invitee at the inauguration of the 33^rd Session of the General Conference in October 2005.

Sri Lanka is a member of the following subsidiary bodies of the General Conference of UNESCO;

·        Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC)

·        Intergovernmental Council of the Management of social Transformations (MOST) Programme

·        International Coordinating Council of the Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MAB)

·        Executive Council of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)

Sri Lanka has been a member of UNESCO since November 1949 and celebrated the golden jubilee of the establishment of the Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO in 1999. During the last five decades, Sri Lanka had served on the UNESCO Executive Board for the periods 1968-1974 and 1987-1991. Sri Lanka again got elected to the Executive Board after a lapse of twelve years, for the period 2003-2007 and was re-elected for a further period 2008-2011 at the elections held during the 34^th General Conference of UNESCO, held in October 2007.

Most recent Sri Lankan initiatives at UNESCO included the resolution against the use of Religious Symbols and Expressions, which was adopted by the 33^rd session of the General Conference in 2005 and the proposal during the 176^th Session of the UNESCO Executive Board, to make Education for Peace and Sustainable development, a focused programme of UNESCO, which has now been incorporated in its’ Medium Term Strategy (2008-2013).