BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON RADHIKA COOMARASWAMY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000242 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SA/INS AND INR/B E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2016 TAGS: PHUM PINR CE SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON RADHIKA COOMARASWAMY, NEWLY APPOINTED UN SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE. REASON: 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (C) Radhika Coomaraswamy, whose appointment as UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict was announced on February 7, has been a close and valued contact of the Embassy for more than two decades. She has been a long-standing and vociferous opponent of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)--earning her the dubious distinction of being one of the few prominent Tamil intellectuals still surviving who is not afraid to criticize the Tigers publicly. As Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, a post she will relinquish at the end of February, she has focused attention on human rights abuses committed by both the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) and LTTE--including the Tigers' practice of conscripting child soldiers. Her appointment as UN Special Representative on this crucial subject will be a setback to LTTE efforts to win international legitimacy and sympathy. ¶2. (SBU) Coomaraswamy was born on September 17, 1953, in Colombo. Daughter of a UNDP official assigned to the United Nations in New York, she spent much of her youth (1962-1977) in the United States. She holds a B.A. from Yale University, a J.D. from Columbia and an LLM from Harvard. In the mid-1980s she was named the Director of the International Center for Ethnic Studies in Colombo, a leading local think tank on social issues. In 1994 she was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, a position she held until 2003. In May 2003 she was named Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. In 2005 then-President Chandrika Kumaratunga conferred on Coomaraswamy the title of "Deshamanya," the Government's highest honor. Coomaraswamy is the only woman to have received this award. She has written extensively, especially on the topics of ethnic studies and women's issues. LUNSTEAD