Shridath Ramphal Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable Sir
Shridath Surendranath Ramphal
Honorific-Suffix: OM
2nd Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
1Blankname:Head
1Namedata:Elizabeth II
Term Start:1 July 1975
Term End:30 June 1990
Predecessor:Arnold Smith
Successor:Chief Emeka Anyaoku
Office2:2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana
Term Start2:1972
Term End2:1975
Primeminister2:Forbes Burnham
Predecessor2:Forbes Burnham
Successor2:Frederick Wills
Office3:1st Assistant Attorney General of the West Indies Federation
Term Start3:3 January 1958
Term End3:31 May 1962
Office4:Chancellor of the University of the West Indies
Predecessor4:Allen Montgomery Lewis
Successor4:George Alleyne
Term Start4:1989
Term End4:2003
Office5:Chancellor of the University of Warwick
Term Start5:1989
Term End5:2002
Predecessor5:Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman
Successor5:Nick Scheele
Office6:Chancellor of the University of Guyana
Term Start6:1990
Term End6:1992
Birth Date:3 October 1928
Birth Place:New Amsterdam, Berbice, British Guiana (present-day East Berbice-Corentyne, Guyana)
Spouse:[1]
Children:4
Education:Harvard Law School
Alma Mater:King's College London (LL.B., LL.M.)

Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal OM (born 3 October 1928), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, is a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister of Guyana from 1972 to 1975, and assistant attorney general of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.

Shridath Ramphal is an Earth Charter International Commission member.

Biography

Ramphal was born in New Amsterdam, British Guiana, to an Indo-Guyanese family. One of his grandmothers left British India after refusing to commit the sati practice and emigrated to British Guiana under the Indian indenture system.[2] After attending schools in Georgetown, Ramphal studied law at King's College London, graduating with LL.B. and LL.M. degrees. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in London in 1951. As a pupil barrister he worked with the British politician and lawyer Dingle Foot. Ramphal continued studying law for a year at Harvard Law School in the US on a 1962 Guggenheim Fellowship.[3] [4]

Ramphal started his legal career as a Crown Counsel in the Attorney-General's Office in 1953, becoming Solicitor-General and then Assistant Attorney-General of the short-lived West Indies Federation. After a period in private practice in Jamaica, he returned to British Guiana in 1965 to be the Attorney General. Two years later, he was also appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, later becoming Minister of Justice (from 1973) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (from 1972). In 1975, he left Guyana to become Commonwealth Secretary-General.[5]

He also served as the Chancellor of the University of Warwick from 1989 to 2002, of the University of the West Indies from 1989 to 2003, and of the University of Guyana from 1990 to 1992.[6]

During Ramphal's time as Commonwealth Secretary-General, the United Kingdom represented by Margaret Thatcher was found to be in a minority of one on the issue of economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

With Ingvar Carlsson, he was in 1995 one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Global Governance, which reported on issues of international development, international security, globalization and global governance.

Selected bibliography

Honours and awards

Sir Shridath was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1966 Birthday Honours (the list was dated to 25 May of that year).[7] He was knighted in the 1970 New Year Honours, and invested with his knighthood by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 3 February.[8] [9] He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG) in 1990.[10]

On 26 February 1982, Sir Shridath was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).[11] On 6 February 1990, Ramphal was the 19th appointee to the Order of New Zealand,[12] New Zealand's highest civil honour. He was decorated as a Member of the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) in the first conferment in 1992.[4] In May 2006 Ramphal was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Royal Society of Arts. He is a vice-president of the Royal Commonwealth Society. The Ramphal Building at the University of Warwick was named in his honour.

In 2002, Rampal was awarded the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize.[13] In 2003, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India.

In popular culture

Ramphal is portrayed by Tony Jayawardena in the fourth season of the Netflix web television series The Crown.[14]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: President saddened at passing of Lady Lois Winifred Ramphal - Guyana Chronicle . 24 September 2019 .
  2. News: Waldman . Amy . 2003-01-12 . India Harvests Fruits of a Diaspora . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-07-18 . 0362-4331.
  3. Web site: Shridath Ramphal. The Integrationist Caribbean. 9 November 2017.
  4. Web site: Sir Shridath Ramphal. The Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago. 9 November 2017. 29 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140729015505/http://www.ttlawcourts.org/index.php/component/attachments/download/2380. dead.
  5. Web site: Tributes to Sir Shridath Ramphal on his eightieth birthday. Stabroek News. 3 October 2008 . 27 July 2015.
  6. Web site: Shridath Ramphal .
  7. Web site: London Gazette, Supplement: 44004 . London-gazette.co.uk . 6533. 3 June 1966 . 19 July 2014.
  8. Web site: London Gazette, Supplement: 45004 . London-gazette.co.uk . 49. 30 December 1969 . 19 July 2014.
  9. Web site: London Gazette, Supplement: 45036 . London-gazette.co.uk . 1551. 6 February 1970 . 19 July 2014.
  10. Web site: Chancellor's choice: Sir Shridath awarded Chancellor's Medal . Tanya . Lightbourne. Barbados Advocate . 22 October 2011 . 19 July 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728224712/http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=20498 . 28 July 2014 . dmy-all .
  11. https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/882139 Australia: It's an Honour
  12. "Honours and Awards" (15 February 1990), 23 New Zealand Gazette 445 at 446.
  13. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030412/nation.htm The Tribune
  14. Web site: Tony Jayawardena. .