International Human Rights: Dispelling the Myths By Radhika Coomaraswamy
A Talk given at the Colombo Club, August 2014
Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I do so with trepidation since speaking to captains of industry is quite outside my zone of comfort. My brother Indrajit Coomaraswamy, with whom you are more familiar, once told me in the middle of a political argument- you must realize, in society there are different roles that everyone must play. He said he was a civil servant and his job is to gently persuade governments to do the right thing. He then added ‘you are a social activist- it is your role to speak truth to power”.