Everything about Jayantha Dhanapala totally explained
Jayantha Dhanapala is a member of the Board of Sponsors of
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists(External Link
). Dr. Dhanapala was Sri Lanka's official candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the
United Nations, before withdrawing from the race on 29 September 2006.
Early years in Sri Lanka
Dhanapala was born in
Sri Lanka on
30 December 1938. His family hail from the hill town of Badulla. Dhanapala was educated at
Trinity College in
Kandy. He gained a reputation as an all rounder as a schoolboy and was awarded the
Ryde Gold Medal in 1956. At the age of 17 years Jayantha Dhanapala won a contest with an essay on "The World We Want" and travelled to the US where he met Senator
John F. Kennedy and President
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Diplomatic career
In the 1990s he chaired a global review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in
Geneva.
The New York Times observed that Jayantha Dhanapala 'was a diplomat mostly unknown outside the arms-control world until he was elected to preside over this conference.'
He entered the Sri Lankan diplomatic service and served in
London,
Beijing,
Washington, D.C.,
New Delhi and
Geneva. Dhanapala was appointed Ambassador in Geneva (1984-87)- he was also accredited to the UN and was appointed Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States of America based in Washington D.C. from 1995-97.
Under-Secretary-General at the UN
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan picked Jayantha Dhanapala for an important posting: Under-Secretary-General in re-establishing the Department of Disarmament. Mr. Dhanapala held this post from 1998-2003.
Dhanapala was appointed Secretary-General of the
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) from 2004 - 2005. He is a Special Advisor to the
President of Sri Lanka,
Mahinda Rajapakse.
Candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General
Dhanapala remains a strong candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations. He is committed to reforming the UN. Dhanpala won high praise for being a solid UN Manager and a man who was able to steer through political minefields and reach successful conclusions to complex international problems. Ramesh Thakur writing in the 'Hindu' newspaper in India noted: 'He topped the competitive exams in Sri Lanka and had a brilliant career in the foreign service, culminating as ambassador to Washington. That he's failed to generate excitement in Washington circles may prove to be more of an asset than a liability. He has served ten years in the UN.
Newton Bowles, a distinguished Canadian diplomat who was involved with the UN in many capacities from its start, notes in his memoir
The Diplomacy of Hope that Mr. Dhanapala "left a legacy of intellectual rigor and moral commitment" as Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament (1998-2003). He is widely known, respected and admired. He is considerate to subordinates and courteous to colleagues. He is a uniter, not a divider. His candidacy has drawn support from across the political spectrum in a country that's otherwise as fractiously divided as India itself. The opposition parties in Sri Lanka joined hands with the government on the day that his candidacy was announced.
Quotes on Jayantha Dhanapala
' The UN needs the leadership of a person who has the vision, experience and diplomatic skills to re-engineer the Organization, so that it'll be able to meet the challenges ahead, and the person to me- is undoubtedly Jayantha Dhanapala.' (Mangala Samaraweera, Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka)
' Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka is a very strong candidate. He is highly respected as a diplomat by the international community. Dhanapala was an Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He has stong managerial skills and has gravitas. Dhanapala is known as a 'people person' who is at ease with himself and at ease with others. Dhanapala is a leader and is known as a man of integrity and character. This candidate is a first class diplomat who made a reputation as a solid UN Manager. The organisation needs someone of Dhanapala's calibre to take the UN forward.' (Ivan Corea)
Source: Lanka Everything.ComFurther Information
Get more info on 'Jayantha Dhanapala'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://jayantha_dhanapala.totallyexplained.com">Jayantha Dhanapala Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
