13th TRAINING COURSEON'THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSE TO CORRUPTION'

CLOSING CEREMONY
11th November 2010

A FAREWELL SPEECH BY Ms. HARIPPRIYA JAYASUNDARA(SRI LANKA)

Your excellencies
Honourable members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Mr. Masaki SASAKI - Director of UNAFEI
Mr. Osamu SHIMIZU - President of the
Research and Training Institute of the Ministryof Justice
Mr. Hisano NODA- Deputy Director, Tokyo International Centre, Japan
International Cooperation
UNAFEI Faculty and Staff Members
Distinguished Guests
Fellow participantsLadies and Gentlemen
It is with deepest appreciation that I accept this honor to speak on behalf of ourparticipants who have completed a very fruitful training programme at UNAFEI.
First of all, let me extend our gratitude and sincere thanks to the Government ofJapan, its people, JICA and UNAFEI for giving us this golden opportunity torepresent our respective countries at the 13th Training Course on 'The Criminal Justice
Response to Corruption'. I would be failing in my duty if I do not pay gratitude to theAsia Crime Prevention Foundation (ACPF) for their hospitality in hosting us a specialdinner.

Ladies and gentlemen, if I may say a few words about our workshop, at times it
indeed looked like the UN General Assembly - with 17 foreign participants from 16

1countries and with 6 Japanese participants. Although Japan had the power of veto they
never used it against the rest of the States Parties. There never was a dull moment
during the sessions. We agreed, agreed to disagree and at last came to a compromise.
We treated each other with due respect and love. The UNAFEI professors as well as
the visiting experts helped us to whet our appetite for knowledge. I take thisopportunity to extend my sincere thanks to them.

During the sessions we had the privilege of listening to very eloquent speakers such as
Mr. Chryssikos from Austria, Mr. Koh from Singapore and Mr. Lam from HongKong. They were experts in their chosen fields and I am sure you would agree that
Mr. Chryssikos is an expert in many a field whether it is his chosen field or not!!!
Our visits to the Tokyo District Court, Supreme Court, Tokyo Tax Agency, Osaka
District Public Prosecutors’ Office, to name a few, helped us to broaden ourknowledge of the Japanese Criminal Justice System. We are indebted to them for theirgenerosity and kindness for taking time to educate us about their institutions.
A special reference has to be made about the lectures given to us by the UNAFEI
professors: Izumi-san, Yanaka-san and Tada-san. Dear professors thank you for thosearticulate and informative lectures. We were made to understand that Ukawa-san isextremely selective in making a presentation to the participants due to his busy
schedule. In the circumstances we feel honoured as he made a wonderful presentation
to us. Dear Ukawa-san, we are extremely grateful to you and thank you very much forthat very interesting and informative lecture. The knowledge that we gained from thelectures, Individual Presentations, discussions and group work shops was invaluable.
Amongst other things, we will take the wealth of knowledge gathered at this training
course back with us, to our countries.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me now take you down our memory lane. We arrived atUNAFEI on the 18th of October 2010. It was a journey that started out with hesitantsmiles and tentative moves to make friends with each other – today we see just how
far we have progressed. A few rounds of drinks at the welcome party at Lounge B
helped us find friends for life. I hope the friendships that began at Lounge B willcontinue through our lifetimes. In as much as the Conference Hall helped us to share
our knowledge, sun down sessions at Lounge B helped us to harness our talents. We
proved our capabilities as well as our limitations in dancing and singing!!! While2some participants were encouraged to sing more, to some we said 'no more'!! It has
been an honour and privilege being part of this journey and one which has been filledwith wonderful memories.

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to say a few words about our sports day. For the firsttime in their history, UNAFEI organized a Table Tennis tournament for theparticipants of this training programme. I was made to understand that it was thebrainchild of Professor Izumi, who is our course coordinator as well. Amongst theplayers there were the Deputy Director, the professors, members of the staff and theparticipants. There was absolute chaos and lawlessness. Every conceivable rule wasbroken. The only person who seemed to be straight amongst us was the Director – but
let me remind you that he never took part in the tournament. I don't recall the finalscore, who won, who lost – it didn't seem that important. But I do recall how weencouraged each other and that we played our best game ever.

I would be failing in my duty if I don't mention the study tours, especially the trip toHiroshima. Sixty – five years ago in Hiroshima, the world saw the worst destruction
ever committed by the human race. Today the city of Hiroshima, which rose from its
ashes, carries the message of peace across the world. What better example do you
need to show the commitment, perseverance and great heart of the Japanese nation?

The beauty and the tranquility we experienced at Kinkaku Temple, KiyomizuTemple and Nijo Castle will leave a lasting impression in our memories. Needless tosay that it was a wonderful experience to travel in the bullet train. I am sure that it wasa ‘first’ for many of us.

Takoyaki party was another memorable event in our life at UNAFEI and was coupledwith a birthday party for 3 of the participants. I take this opportunity to extend ourheartfelt gratitude to our Japanese participants, who organized the surprise party. It
was indeed a very touching gesture!!

Let me take this opportunity to thank all of you individually, sincerely and repeatedly.
Mr. Sasaki, Director of UNAFEI, thank you for your dedication and the friendshipextended to all of us.
3Mr. Ukawa, Deputy Director, you always took your time off to be with us. Thankyou for being so nice to us.
Izumi –san, for the first time I realized that looks are deceptive. As our Programming
Officer you were gentle enough to take us under your wing but stern enough to keep
us in our place. We owe you a big thank you for being our guide, mentor and friend. I
hope we will be etched in your memory forever.
Yanaka-san thank you for guiding us and being with us through out the programme.
Harada-san, we thank you sincerely for guiding us and helping us with ourindividual presentations.
Tada-san –with your gentle ways you made us feel that we are far more important
than anybody else in the world. Thank you for your kind gesture.
Sakonji-san we would never forget how you counted us on countless occasions all
the way to Hiroshima and back to UNAFEI.
Kawaharada-san, thank you for introducing us to sake at the sun down parties at
Lounge B.
Wakimoto-san – although we did not see you very often, we shared in yourknowledge at the question time.
Watanabe-san we recall how you took great pains in explaining the rules at the Table
tennis tournament which were broken by the participants.
Kita-san thank you for your patience, tolerance and kindness extended to anindisciplined lot like us.
Ms Grace Lord – we are grateful for your lovely company
Chihara-san – thank you for taking great pains in making our life at UNAFEI
comfortable
Sasabe-san without doubt you are the best photographer in the world
Suzuki-san and Nishitani-san thank you for taking care of all the matters at theConference Hall and beyond
Inoue-san we are extremely grateful to you for taking care of us during our trip toHiroshima and back.
Junei-san we wish to thank you and your staff for providing us with healthy food andintroducing us to Japanese food.
I also wish to thank every body at the Secretariat, General and Financial Affairs
Section and Training and Hostel Management Affairs Section and the International
Affairs Section and those who supported us by playing many roles behind the screen.
4Let me also say a big thank you to the interpreters who at times had to de–code what
we said rather than interpreting.

Ladies and Gentlemen, today being the last day of our life at UNAFEI, allow me tosay a few words about each participant and let me start according to the alphabeticalorder as always insisted upon by Izumi- san.
Sadat-san from Afghanistan is the quietest of all; but he never failed to greet us
with his kind smile
Khan-san from Botswana – we will never forget your contributions made at thequestion sessions
Douglas san from Brazil – you were our soccer player off the playing field
Vicky-san from Congo is the only lady Judge amongst the participants, whoreminded us of the saying, “once a judge, always a judge”
Abarca-san from El Salvador – police forces all over the world would be muchfriendlier with officers like you
Pras-san from Indonesia was the most mischievous amongst us all
Sami-san from Kurdistan – you always had your way however much your beloved
professor Izumi-san tried to keep you in line
Arturo-san from Mexico – we will never forget your hearty laughRaj -san from Nepal – you always stole the show whenever you decided to speak at
a gathering
Pervez-san from Pakistan – we always spoke and you always listened – little did
we realize that you had interrogated us
Jose-san from Paraguay – you were a keen listener with a few words
Marmarie-san from Philippines – undoubtedly you are our dancing queen
Ranjani-san from Sri Lanka – you are our Asian beauty with a winsome smile
Pinthip-san from Thailand - your gentle manners touched our hearts
Phuong-san from Vietnam – you are a beautiful flower sitting amongst us
Dumi-san from Zimbabwe - you are a gentle giant with a husky voice

Let me now turn towards our extended family members in Japan
Hirano-san – you were always there whenever we turned to you for assistance
Maekawa-san- you brought laughter to us after a hard day's work5

Mizuni-san – although you are a man of few words, you never failed to show uswarmth
Yamaguchi-san – you were the luckiest amongst us all as you secured a place
between Vietnam and Thailand
Ito-san – you are a brother anyone would love to have. You never failed to pay yourtaxes when demanded!!!
Tatara-san – you were the favourite among most of us with your winsome smileand handsome looks

Ladies and gentlemen, the most difficult task in life is to say good bye to a loved one,be it temporarily or for good. Today's events may fade or even be forgotten. The
applause may even become a distant memory and our certificates may gather dust on
a shelf or in a drawer. But all of you will always be remembered for caring enough,for helping someone, for making someone feel special and appreciated and for being
the kind of person that others enjoy spending time with.

Thank You6