Jayantha Dhanapala - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Professor Jayantha Dhanapala is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nontechnical online magazine that covers global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction...

http://www.thebulletin.org/content/about-us/board-of-sponsors and a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Dr. Dhanapala was Sri Lanka's official candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, before withdrawing from the race on 29 September 2006. From 2007 - President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

Early years in Sri Lanka

Dhanapala was born in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

on 30 December 1938. His family hails from the town of Badulla

Badulla

Badulla , is the capital of Uva Province, Sri Lanka. Badulla is located 60 km southeast of Kandy, almost encircled by the Badulu Oya River, about 680 metres above sea level and is surrounded by picturesque hills and mountains, most of which have tea plantations.-Geography:It is located on the...

. Dhanapala was educated at prestigious Trinity College in Kandy

Kandy

Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...

. He gained a reputation as an all rounder as a schoolboy and was awarded the Ryde Gold Medal

The Ryde Gold Medal

The Ryde Gold Medal is awarded each year to the "best all-round boy" at Trinity College, Kandy, an elite school in Sri Lanka founded in the 19th century and moulded in the British Public School tradition. The Ryde Gold Medal is the highest honour that the School can bestow...

in 1956. At the age of 17 Jayantha Dhanapala won a contest with an essay titled "The World We Want" and travelled to the US where he met Senator John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

and President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

Diplomatic career

He entered the Sri Lankan diplomatic service

Sri Lanka Overseas Service

The Sri Lanka Overseas Service which is most commonly referred to as the Sri Lanka Foreign Service is the foreign service of Sri Lanka. It is the body of career diplomats of Sri Lanka...

and served in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

and Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

. 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.

Dhanapala was widely acclaimed for his Presidency of the 1995 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference, a landmark event in disarmament history, because of his crafting of a package of decisions balancing the twin objectives of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament and the concerns of the nuclear weapon states and the non-nuclear weapon states which was adopted without a vote.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.'

Under-Secretary-General at the UN

Dhanapala was hand picked by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan to take on the challenging job of Under Secretary General to re-establish the Department of Disarmament after the UN reforms of 1997 (1998–2003). During his tenure he piloted the UN role in arresting the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, anti-personnel landmines, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction while reinforcing existing norms and norm-building in other areas such as missiles. He also broke new ground both in-house in taking managerial initiatives in gender mainstreaming and in work-life issues, as well as in the disarmament field by innovating the exchange of weapons for a development programme in Albania and other areas, and also in the cross-sectoral linking of disarmament with development, the environment and peace education programmes.

Dhanapala was appointed Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)in Sri Lanka from 2004 - 2005. He was also Senior Special Advisor to both Presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapakse during the period 2005-2007.

Candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General

Dhanapala was the weakest candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations elections 2006 as he represented SriLanka which was involved in a civil war. 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 will be able to meet the challenges ahead, and the person to me- is undoubtedly Jayantha Dhanapala.' (Mangala Samaraweera, Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka)

Source: Asia Tribune.Com

' 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 strong 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.Com

External links

News and views

Writings and statements

Speeches

Books by Jayantha Dhanapala

Multilateral Diplomacy and the NPT: An Insiders’ Account

Jayantha Dhanapala with R. Rydell, Geneva: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 2005

Regional Approaches to Disarmament, Security and Stability

Jayantha Dhanapala (ed.), Geneva: UNIDIR, 1993, published for UNIDIR by Dartmouth (Aldershot)

The United Nations, Disarmament and Security: Evolution and Prospects Jayantha Dhanapala (ed.), Geneva: UNIDIR, 1991
China and the Third World Jayantha Dhanapala, New Delhi: Vikas, 1985

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