Tamara Kunanayakam | |
---|---|
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva | |
In office 9 August 2011 –2013 | |
President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Preceded by | Kshenuka Seneviratne |
Sri Lankan Ambassador to Cuba | |
In office 2009–2011 | |
President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Sri Lankan Ambassador to Holy See | |
In office 15 December 2011 –2013 | |
President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Preceded by | T. B. Maduwegedara |
Personal details | |
Born | Colombo,Sri Lanka |
Alma mater | Ladies College,Colombo Vembadi Girls' High School University of Heidelberg IHEID |
Tamara Manimekhalai Kunanayakam is a Sri Lankan diplomat. She was the former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Sri Lankan Ambassador to Holy See. [1] [2]
Kunanayakam was born in and grew up in Colombo,Sri Lanka. [3] Her father was an Anglican Sri Lankan Tamil from Chundikuli in Jaffna who was a member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Government Clerical Services Union. [3] Her mother was a Hindu Indian Tamil from Badulla. [3] Kunanayakam's maternal grandfather Gnanapandithan was a businessman in Badulla who had sympathies for the Indian National Congress and the Indian independence movement. [3]
Kunanayakam was educated at Ladies College,Colombo and briefly at Vembadi Girls' High School in Jaffna. [3] She became proficient in Tamil,Sinhala and English. In 1972,aged 19,she left Sri Lanka and travelled overland to Europe. She had intended to go to Netherlands but ended up in Switzerland. She worked in Geneva before going to Germany and enrolling at the University of Heidelberg. [3] She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations. [3] [4] She then returned to Geneva and enrolled at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. She graduated in 1982 with a Master's degree in International Relations. [3] [4] Her widowed mother and brothers moved to Geneva in 1983. [5]
Kunanayakam is fluent in Tamil,Sinhala,English,French,German and Spanish. [3] [4]
After her graduation in 1982,Kunanayakam joined the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Geneva,where she worked until 1983. [3] [4] Between 1983 and 1984 she served as a consultant and policy adviser to the Lutheran World Federation. [3] [4] In late July 1983 she sent a fax to the Lutheran World Federation delegates attending the World Council of Churches conference in Vancouver,appraising them of the recent anti-Tamil riots that had occurred in Sri Lanka: [6]
Just received news that Valvettiturai town has been razed and all inhabitants killed. Navy has killed 1,000 in Trincomalee. Two refugee camps in Colombo have been attacked. Food supplies of Jaffna are being blocked by the Army. Our sources of information are UNDP Colombo,NORAD Colombo and Tamil Information Centre London.
The fax was leaked to the media,some of whom mentioned Kunanayakam's name. [3] Kunanayakam was accused of being an "Eelam propagandist". [6] She also supplied information on the riots to World Vision International who presented some of them to Junius Richard Jayewardene,President of Sri Lanka. [3] Jayewardene branded Kunanayakam a "terrorist agent" who had supplied false information. [3]
Kunanayakam was a researcher for the International Peace Research Institute,Oslo (1984–85) and Antenna International,Geneva (1985–86). [4] [5] She was also a consultant to the UNDP in sub-Saharan Africa in 1985. [4] [5] She returned to the Lutheran World Federation in 1986 and worked there until 1988. [3] [4] In March 1987 Kunanayakam represented the World Student Christian Movement at the 43rd session of the UN Commission on Human Rights and spoke about the torture,disappearances,illegal detentions and other abuses prevalent in Sri Lanka at that time. [7] [8]
Kunanayakam was a human rights officer for the United Nations Centre for Human Rights from 1989 to 1990. [4] [5] In 1991 she became a research fellow at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research,Heidelberg. She was then a research officer at the International Labour Organization (1991–93 and head of the department for development of policy at Bread for All,Bern (1993–94). [3] [4] She was first officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1994 to 2005,heading a unit on disappearances. [3] [4]
Kunanayakam was appointed as Minister Counsellor to the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brazil in 2007. She was Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Cuba from 2009 to 2011. In 2011,she was appointed the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Sri Lankan Ambassador to Holy See. [2] Kunanayakam was elected Chairperson/Rapporteur of the United Nations Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development in August 2011 and as Vice Chair representing the Asia Group of countries at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at its 58th Session. [9]
Kunanayakam is the founder of the Foundation on Multilateralism in Geneva and a founding member of the Observatory of Globalization in Paris,the South Group in Geneva and the Asia-Pacific Task Force,Geneva. [1] She is author of several publications on international relations,including on the international monetary system,the Multilateral Agreement on Investment,the United Nations reform process,and humanitarian interventions in Yugoslavia,Iraq,and Afghanistan.
The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987,between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act of 1987. Under the terms of the agreement,Colombo agreed to a devolution of power to the provinces,the Sri Lankan troops were to be withdrawn to their barracks in the north and the Tamil rebels were to surrender their arms.
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military.
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) is a political party and a pro-government paramilitary organization in Sri Lanka. It is led by its founder Douglas Devananda.
Black July was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated,and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on 23 July 1983,which caused the death of 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers,by the Tamil militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Although initially orchestrated by members of the ruling UNP,the pogrom soon escalated into mass violence with significant public participation.
Kathiravelu Nythiananda Devananda,commonly known as Douglas Devananda,is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician,Cabinet Minister and leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party. Originally a Sri Lanka Tamil militant who fought against the Sri Lankan government for an independent Tamil Eelam,he became a pro-government paramilitary leader and politician. Due to his strong opposition to and vocal criticism of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,they unsuccessfully tried to assassinate him over 10 times. Devananda is a proclaimed offender in India and is wanted on charges of murder,attempt to murder,rioting,unlawful assembly and kidnapping. He was sworn in as Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources on 22 November 2019.
Nadarajah Raviraj was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician. He was Mayor of Jaffna in 2001 and a Member of Parliament for Jaffna District from 2001 to 2006. A member of the Tamil National Alliance,he was shot dead on 10 November 2006 in Colombo.
Gaasinather Gangaser Ponnambalam was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. Leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress,he was a presidential candidate in 1982. He was shot dead in January 2000 in an assassination many suspect to be ordered by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
His Excellency Mahinda Buddhadasa Samarasinghe,is a former MP and the current Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States of America,Mexico and High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago. He was formerly a member of Parliament under Gotabaya Rajapaksa's Government,and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna chief organiser for the Panadura Electorate in the Kalutara District.
Uthayan is a Tamil language Sri Lankan daily newspaper published by New Uthayan Publication (Private) Limited,part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 1985 and is published from Jaffna. Its sister newspapers is the Colombo based Sudar Oli. Uthayan was the only newspaper published from Jaffna which did not cease publication due to the civil war. The newspaper has been attacked several times,a number of its staff have been murdered by paramilitary groups and other forces,and it regularly receives threats.
Deshamanya Gamani Corea was a Sri Lankan economist,civil servant and diplomat. He was also the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1974 to 1984,Ceylon's Ambassador to the EEC,Belgium,Luxembourg and the Netherlands,the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs of Ceylon and the Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon.
Holy See –Sri Lanka relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and Sri Lanka. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1976. The Holy See has a nunciature in Colombo. As of December 2011,Ms. Tamara Kunanayakam,who is Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva,was the concurrently accredited ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Holy See. She presented her Credentials on 15 December 2011 to Pope Benedict XVI. The Apostolic Nunciature of Sri Lanka has been vacant since October 2013.
Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran,MP,PC born 9 February 1964) is a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer,politician and Member of Parliament.
Dayan Jayatilleka is a leftist Sri Lankan academic,diplomat,writer and politician.
Jaffna College is a private school in Vaddukoddai,Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1871 as a successor to the Batticotta Seminary which had been established by American missionaries.
Arumugam Thiagarajah was a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher,politician and Member of Parliament.
Events from the year 2014 in Sri Lanka.