The Tamara Kunanayakam Affair: The Ugly Underbelly Of Sri Lankan ‘Diplomacy’
May 14, 2012
By Namini Wijedasa -
Namini Wijedasa
In March 2012, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva passed a resolution againstSri Lanka. In the run-up to this damaging development, the government spent millions of rupees on sending a 71-member delegation to Switzerland in the expectation that it would successfully defend the country against the US-led move.
The team included several ministers, senior diplomats, senior government officials and presidential advisors. In the face of defeat, however, only one individual—Tamara Kunanayakam,Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the UN inGeneva—is visibly being held accountable. As the drama continues to unfold, an ugly dispute between Kunanayakam and the Sri Lankan administration threatens to embarrass the country internationally.
According to information strategically leaked to the media, External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris telephoned Kunanayakam on April 28 and told her she should leave her post in Geneva at short notice. She was asked to choose betweenBrazilandCubafor her next posting. She dramatically refused to go and told her story to the press.
Even after Kunanayakam was given official notice of transfer to Havana (and even afterRavinatha Ariyasinghe,Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Brussels, was named to Geneva) she remained defiant and gave her reasons for being so. Every step of the action against her was publicly recorded because Kunanayakam willingly spoke to the media—just as the media actively courted her. Read More
