{"id":54285,"date":"2017-07-17T23:26:32","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T03:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=54285"},"modified":"2017-07-17T23:29:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T03:29:31","slug":"tamara-kunanayakam-receives-inspirational-woman-of-the-yearaward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=54285","title":{"rendered":"Tamara Kunanayakam Receives “Inspirational Woman of the Year”Award."},"content":{"rendered":"


\n By<\/p>\n

Lasanda Kurukulasuriya<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Tamara Kunanayakam was the recipient of \u2018Inspirational Woman of the Year\u2019Award in this year\u2019s \u2018Top 50 Professional and Career Women Awards\u2019 organized by Women in Management, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. The 50 winners from Sri Lanka and the Maldives received their awards at a glittering ceremony held at Hotel Taj Samudra on Friday. Ms. Kunanayakam, best known for her defence of Sri Lanka\u2019s independence and sovereignty as Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva 2011-2012 when a resolution was brought against the country at the Human Rights Council, said \u201cthe fact that I won this award, for me is a recognition of the values and principles I stood for.\u201d The Daily Mirror talked to her about the less-known aspects of her background and career. <\/em><\/p>\n


\nExcerpts from the interview:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Question:<\/p>\n

How do you feel about winning this award \u2013 were you surprised?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a totally unexpected surprise. The award for \u2018Inspirational Woman\u2019 is not open for nomination,the recipient is selected by the panel of judges. Throughout my life I\u2019ve been guided by values and principles of social justice, solidarity, equality \u2013 humanist values, freedom from exploitation, peace, independence and sovereignty. You don\u2019t expect to be rewarded for doing things you believe in! <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Q;Could you say something about the influences in your personal life that shaped these values?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A;<\/strong><\/p>\n

At this moment, my thoughts are with my parents. They were my inspiration. Education and humanist values were their legacy, not property, material things. We had no cars, no fridges, phones. I was warned (as the only girl in the family) that I would have no dowry. By education they meant in the broadest sense, culture \u2013 in the sense that Cuban freedom fighter and national hero Jose Marti said: \u201cBeing educated is the only way to be free.\u201d Being free not in the abstract sense, but fighting for a more just and free society. <\/p>\n

These values are the exact opposite of the values on which currently society is organized. Today our economic and social system is based more on individualism than collective interests, on competition not solidarity, profit and greed not social wellbeing, war not peace. Exploitation …of natural resources, destruction of the environment. Family background had a lot to do with these values. My father was a leader of the GCSU (General Clerical Services Union). He was a patriot who fought for freedom from British colonialism \u2013 one of the leaders of the 1947 general strike, with T. B. Ilangaratne (president of the GCSU). At the time he was working as Chief Clerk at the Labour Ministry. He was the one who announced the strike \u2013 all the staff in the ministries started to walk out, office by office, floor by floor. Bala Tampoe talked about how it started spontaneously and then spread like wildfire. By the second day the government (colonial) administration was almost completely paralysed. <\/p>\n

Q;Did it lead to changes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A;<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was just before independence. So definitely it had an influence. No one talks about the workers involvement in the struggle for independence. On my mother\u2019s side, my grandfather also was one of the leaders of the Ceylon National Congress (CNC) in Badulla. He was against Dominion Status and fought for full self-rule, unlike some others in the CNC. These were the values I was raised with, all the decisions that followed \u2013 regarding study, professional life, were determined by these values. <\/p>\n


\nQ:In Sri Lanka you are best known as the Ambassador to the UN in Geneva 2011-2012, and in Cuba before that. But there are other aspects to your background that many are not aware of \u2013 i.e. your work in the UN Working Group (UNWG) on the Right to Development (RTD), your education and training in Europe as an Economist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A;<\/strong><\/p>\n

My work as PR was only one year out of 35 years of professional experience. It\u2019s important that I decided to study Economics \u2013 I am an Economist. I was keen to understand how society \/ the economy are organized, in order to understand poverty, exploitation, the difference between western economies and developing countries. Why are countries that are rich in resources in Africa and Asia, poor? <\/p>\n

My father died while I was doing my O\/levels. After my A\/levels my mother made a sacrifice by giving me $100 (about Rs 10,000 at the time \u2013 very little) to travel overland to Europe. I left because \u2018standardisation of education\u2019 had begun, a quota system was introduced. It would have been difficult as a Tamil in Colombo to get a place in University. I travelled overland through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. From Istanbul I hitch-hiked through Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Austria, and ended up in Geneva, Switzerland. I was lucky to get a job to spend for my studies. <\/p>\n

Q;Was it possible to find work without difficulty, as a migrant in Europe\u2026?<\/strong>
\n
\nA;<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was in 1972 and it was easy to find work. While hitch-hiking I got a ride with someone from the World Council of Churches (WCC) who asked me to come and see if there were any vacancies there. They had a job in the editorial department where they wanted help with proof-reading and in their bookshop. They moved me up to help organize youth participation in the 5th General Assembly of the WCC in Nairobi in 1975, where I led a group of 150 youth from around the world. At the WCC, I was exposed to issues such as racism and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. <\/p>\n

I decided to study in Germany because their education teaches you to think things through. It is not the conclusions but how you arrive at them that\u2019s important. … <\/p>\n

For three years I studied Economics at the University of Heidelberg, then returned to Geneva and joined the prestigious \u2018Graduate Institute for International Studies.\u2019 I wanted to specialize in International Relations, to understand how the conditions of ordinary people, in the country and the factory, were linked to decisions taken at an international level, and why people continue to be poor. It was the time of the Third World Debt Crisis. Mexico nearly defaulted on its debt. I needed to understand these mechanisms.<\/p>\n

I studied four fields \u2013 1) International Finance and Trade, 2) Public International Law, 3) International Institutions and 4) History of Diplomatic Relations. I was privileged to be among the alumnae of this Institute which included seven Nobel prize recipients, one Pulitzer prize winner, a UN Secretary General (Kofi Anan), a former High Commissioner for Human Rights (Sergio Vieira de Melo) and two heads of state. <\/p>\n


\nQ;What about your UN experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A;<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was elected to chair of the UN Working Group on Right to Development in 2011. Before that I worked for 15 years in the UN \u2013 first at UNDP, where I was in charge of the programme to promote a New International Economic Order (NIEO). Then I wanted to work with real people. I spent several years with academic institutes and NGOs, in the field, in the Philippines and Indonesia, to understand indebtedness of peasants and how it was linked to decisions at international level, implemented by state governments. These people were so deeply in debt they were forced to go to money lenders, paying enormous interest rates. Sometimes when they could not pay their daughters would be taken for two years to the capital to work as prostitutes. I have seen these girls, in two years they are finished. They can\u2019t go back totheir villages, often they attempt suicide. <\/p>\n

In the UN and in my research at different times I was focused on transnational corporations, mostly agri-business, because the majority in developing countries depend on agriculture for a livelihood. It is because agriculture is so exploitative that small farmers become indebted and move into big cities, ending up in slums, as prostitutes and domestics. There is a huge imbalance between cities and countryside. <\/p>\n

In 1989, I joined the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights \u2013 because I was involved in the \u2018Human Right to Development\u2019 which was advanced by the Non-Aligned Movement. It is a multi-dimensional right which includes not only civil and political rights but also economic, social and cultural rights. And it is based on values \u2013 it questions the development strategies that produced the inequalities and injustice, within countries and between countries, between North and South. … I became involved in this debate in the 1980s. For me it brought together all the values that I stood for. <\/p>\n

Q;What level of international support was there for these ideas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A;<\/strong><\/p>\n

At that time the Non-Aligned Movement was very powerful, Asian and African countries had become independent. The NAM was concerned that political independence was not accompanied by economic independence. … the economies of countries were still run by colonial powers, still producing primary commodities for the industrialized countries. The system reinforced that unequal international division of labour. The RTD says you must create the national conditions, and a pre- condition is a just international order \u2013 which is the NIEO. <\/p>\n

Q;What were the highlights of your contribution to the UN?<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nA;<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the UN itself, I was in charge of the RTD and Economic, Social and Cultural rights programme. I was invited to join the UN (I didn\u2019t apply) by the Asst. Secretary General, to be in charge of RTD. … I was in Geneva coordinating a group that I founded called \u2018South Group.\u2019 Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America were concerned about why human rights had become a weapon against victims. <\/p>\n

I became the Secretary of the UNWG on RTD, which is a civil servant\u2019s role. In 2011, I was elected chairperson of the working group, which is a political role. As Secretary of the working group I did the first study of the UN Secretary General on the Impact on the Enjoyment of Human Rights of World Bank Structural Adjustment Programs and Policies. Another first was (the study on ) the Impact on Human Rights of the Activities and Methods of Work of Transnational Corporations. Those two studies led to the establishment of two working groups of the UN: 1) The Working Group on Structural Adjustment Programmes and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (of which I was the Secretary). 2) The Working Group on the issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises. <\/p>\n


\nQ;Did you not find it ironic that you won an award that was partnered by the World Bank, whose policies you were critical of?<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nA:<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I have done is not secret; it\u2019s in the public domain. As Secretary of the working group I worked with Joseph Stiglitz who resigned from the WB and was very critical of it. The WB participated in the working group I chaired, they made interventions, so they know me. As chairperson, I was involved in negotiations with the WB, IMF and NGOs. … The fact that I won this award, for me, is a recognition of the values and principles I stood for. <\/p>\n

Q;The \u2018Women in Management\u2019 awards are meant to celebrate the achievements of women. Would you comment on Sri Lanka\u2019s women, their role in the economy and their importance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A;<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have decided to dedicate this award \u2013 which it is an extraordinary privilege to receive \u2013 to all the unsung heroines who are among the main creators of our nation\u2019s wealth, but who continue to work in slave-like conditions. I am talking about our women working as domestics in backward petro-monarchies of the Gulf \u2013 much of our foreign exchange comes from these workers. The foreign exchange we use to buy luxury cars, to pay back interest on debt \u2013 that\u2019s where it\u2019s coming from. Then there are the women in Free Trade Zones. That\u2019s a misnomer because the only thing \u2018free\u2019 is the freedom to exploit. And the women in the plantations, still daily paid, miserable wages, the main foreign exchange earners of this country. <\/p>\n

Q;As an Economist by training, what is your comment on the current trajectory of the Sri Lankan economy, with the \u2018yahapalana\u2019 government increasingly opening up to the West?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A;<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Yahapalanaya\u2019 means \u2018good governance.\u2019 The term \u2018good governance\u2019 was coined in the late 1980s by the IMF, WB and the US Treasury \u2013 the \u2018Washington-based institutions.\u2019 Those same institutions have been promoting export oriented, foreign debt-dependent development strategies. This resulted in more inequalities, poverty, unemployment, under-employment. More workers depending on the informal sector, less pensions, increased inequities within countries and also between North and South. This created more social unrest. … To make developing countries (DCs) more accessible to western capital, they needed to open up and create conditions for them to invest – not to improve people\u2019s lives but to increase profit, exploit resources and cheap labour and take profits out of the country. … Upto the end of the 1980s they imposed conditions that were economic, but from the late 1980s they began to introduce conditions that were of a political nature. This is what they call \u2018good governance.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Good governance\u2019 is always coupled with \u2018democracy,\u2019 democratization,\u2019\u2018human rights\u2019 and \u2018rule of law.\u2019 Actually it is a refashioned free-market discourse. … Changes are being introduced to the political system. Now, in addition to economic dependence they are taking away political independence.
\n
\nQ;Is this a recent development that came with the yahapalana government – or did it start earlier?<\/strong>
\n
\nA;<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a qualitative difference between then and now. The aim of \u2018good governance\u2019 or \u2018Yahapalana\u2019 is to transform the nature of the State, through institutional reform and reform of the laws, from one that serves national interest, the interest of our people, to one that serves foreign capital. This is what the IMF\/World Bank means by establishment of the \u2018rule of law,\u2019 a term that crept into the 2015 Human Rights Council resolution that our Yahapalana government committed itself to! Foreign capital is looking for long-term guarantees, governments will come and go, but the State will remain. But of course, that cannot be done within the present Constitutional framework, and so the need to change the Constitution. This is what is called a \u2018soft\u2019 coup d\u2019etat! <\/p>\n

The State is there for the people \u2013 for access to health, education, jobs. They want to reform the remaining shrunk State, to re-orient it to serve foreign capital by creating conditions for investors to come in. All this is happening in the context of a global systemic crisis. They are desperately trying to find a way to prevent the collapse of their banks, companies. What remains of the shrinking State will be converted into a repressive State. According to the World Bank Report 2002: \u201cGood governance requires the power to carry out policies and to develop institutions that may be unpopular among some, or even the majority of the people.\u201dThis shows that \u2018good governance\u2019 demands measures that are directed against the expectations of the majority of the people. That\u2019s why people are on the streets! <\/p>\n


\nCourtesy:Daily Mirror<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Tamara Kunanayakam was the recipient of \u2018Inspirational Woman of the Year\u2019Award in this year\u2019s \u2018Top 50 Professional and Career Women Awards\u2019 organized by Women in Management, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. The 50 winners from Sri Lanka and the Maldives received their awards at a …<\/p>\n

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