Tamara Kunanayakam

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Tamara Kunanayakam
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva
In office
9 August 2011 – 2013
President
Sri Lankan Ambassador to Cuba
In office
2009–2011
PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa
Sri Lankan Ambassador to Holy See
In office
15 December 2011 – 2013
PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded byT. B. Maduwegedara
Personal details
Born
University of Heidelberg
IHEID

Tamara Manimekhalai Kunanayakam is a

Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Sri Lankan Ambassador to Holy See.[1][2]

Early life

Kunanayakam was born in and grew up in

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

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]

Career

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.

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.

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

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]

Other activities

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.

References

  1. ^ a b "New Permanent Representative of Sri lanka Presents Credentials to Director-General of UNOG". United Nations Office at Geneva. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Ambassador Tamara Kunanayakam presents credentials to Pope Benedict XVI". The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva. 22 December 2011. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (31 March 2012). "Tamara Kunanayakam: Fighting for Lanka in Geneva". Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). pp. 9–10.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Alumna takes up position as the new Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva". Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. 24 August 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (30 March 2012). "Tamara Kunanayakam: Fighting for Lanka in Geneva". dbsjeyaraj.com.
  6. ^
    ISBN 81-7991-199-3
    .
  7. ISSN 0266-4488
    .
  8. ^ "Intervention by Miss Tamara Kunanayakam, World Student Christian Federation". UN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 43RD SESSIONS: FEBRUARY 1987. Tamilnation.org.
  9. ^ "Ambassador Tamara Kunanayakam Elected Vice Chair of UNCTAD'S Trade and Development Board". Asian Tribune. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2012.

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Kshenuka Seneviratne
 Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva
2011–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
?
Sri Lankan Ambassador to Cuba

2009–2011 		Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
T. B. Maduwegedara
 Sri Lankan Ambassador to Holy See
2011–present 		Incumbent
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