There is a need to change the Constitution -

Tamara Kunanayakam

Tamara Kunanayakam - 'Inspirational Woman of the Year'

Tamara Kunanayakam was the recipient of

Inspirational Woman of the YearAward in this years Top 50 Professional and
Career Women Awards 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 Lankas 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 the fact that I won this
award, for me is a recognition of the values and principles I stood for. The Daily
Mirror talked to her about the less-known aspects of her background and
career. Excerpts from the interview:

Tamara Kunanayakam receives the award from Dr. Rohantha Athukorala,

Chairman - Panel of Judges
How do you feel about winning this award were you surprised?
2017-07-17
It was a totally unexpected surprise. The award for Inspirational Woman is not
open for nomination,the recipient is selected by the panel of judges. Throughout
my life Ive been guided by values and principles of social justice, solidarity,
equality humanist values, freedom from exploitation, peace, independence and
sovereignty. You dont expect to be rewarded for doing things you believe in!
Could you say something about the influences in your personal life that shaped
these values?
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 in the sense
that Cuban freedom fighter and national hero Jose Marti said: Being educated is
the only way to be free. Being free not in the abstract sense, but fighting for a
more just and free society.
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 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 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.

Did it lead to changes?

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 mothers
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 regarding study, professional life, were determined by
these values.

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 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?
My work as PR was only one year out of 35 years of professional experience. Its
important that I decided to study Economics 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?
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 very little) to travel
overland to Europe. I left because standardisation of education 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.

Was it possible to find work without difficulty, as a migrant in Europe?

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.
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 thats important. ...
For three years I studied Economics at the University of Heidelberg, then returned
to Geneva and joined the prestigious Graduate Institute for International
Studies. 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. I studied four fields 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.

Throughout my life Ive been guided by values and principles of social

justice, solidarity, equality
The aim of good governance or Yahapalana is to transform the nature
of the State
I am an Economist. I was keen to understand how society / the economy
are organized
The State is there for the people for access to health, education, jobs.
In the UN and in my research at different times I was focused on
transnational corporations, mostly agri-business
I have decided to dedicate this award to all the unsung heroines who are
among the main creators of our nations wealth
Changes are being introduced to the political system, in addition to
economic dependence
Yahapalanaya means good governance. The term good governance
was coined in the late 1980s by the IMF, WB and the US Treasury
Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America were concerned about why
human rights had become a weapon against victims
At that time the Non-Aligned Movement was very powerful, Asian and
African countries had become independent

What about your UN experience?

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 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 cant go back totheir villages, often they attempt suicide.
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.
In 1989, I joined the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
because I was involved in the Human Right to Development 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 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.

What level of international support was there for these ideas?

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 which is the NIEO.
"I am talking about our women working as domestics in backward petro-
monarchies of the Gulf much of our foreign exchange comes from these
workers. The foreign exchange we use to buy luxury cars, to pay back interest on
debt thats where its coming from"

What were the highlights of your contribution to the UN?

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 didnt apply) by the Asst.
Secretary General, to be in charge of RTD. ... I was in Geneva coordinating a group
that I founded called South Group. Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America
were concerned about why human rights had become a weapon against victims.
I became the Secretary of the UNWG on RTD, which is a civil servants 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.

Did you not find it ironic that you won an award that was partnered by the
World Bank, whose policies you were critical of?
What I have done is not secret; its 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.
The Women in Management awards are meant to celebrate the achievements
of women. Would you comment on Sri Lankas women, their role in the
economy and their importance?
I have decided to dedicate this award which it is an extraordinary privilege to
receive to all the unsung heroines who are among the main creators of our
nations 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 much of our foreign exchange comes from these workers. The foreign
exchange we use to buy luxury cars, to pay back interest on debt thats where
its coming from. Then there are the women in Free Trade Zones. Thats a
misnomer because the only thing free is the freedom to exploit. And the women
in the plantations, still daily paid, miserable wages, the main foreign exchange
earners of this country.
"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
peoples lives but to increase profit, exploit resources and cheap labour and take
profits out of the country"

As an Economist by training, what is your comment on the current trajectory of

the Sri Lankan economy, with the yahapalana government increasingly
opening up to the West?
Yahapalanaya means good governance. The term good governance was
coined in the late 1980s by the IMF, WB and the US Treasury the Washington-
based institutions. 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
peoples 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 good governance.
Good governance is always coupled with democracy, democratization,human
rights and rule of law. 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.

Is this a recent development that came with the yahapalana government - or

did it start earlier?
There is a qualitative difference between then and now. The aim of good
governance or Yahapalana 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 rule of law, 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 soft coup detat!
The State is there for the people 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:
Good 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.This shows that good governance demands measures that are directed
against the expectations of the majority of the people. Thats why people are on
the streets!
Posted by Thavam