Ceylon Gains Access to UN Security Council

Sir Claude Corea is its first Ceylonese head

For half a decade or so after it secured its independence from the British Empire, the Dominion of Ceylon – model colony though it might have been – may be thought of as a rudderless ship… at least in terms of its passage through international waters.

Not to count it as only so much flotsam and jetsam in the planet-wide stream of geopolitics. But it did take a while for the new ship of state to find its ‘sea legs’ after being set adrift following over almost 450 years of tethering to one colonial power or another.

And Britain, which once ruled the waves, was wont to keep its dab hand in as far as steering Ceylon’s navigation as a tyro nation was concerned as much as the Commonwealth to which it was anchored.

Be that as it may, the stirrings of a new beginning in terms of international belonging were felt when the UN formally began its operations in Ceylon in 1952. The newly independent nation was not quite ready for sailing in such halcyon seas yet; or so it seemed, as there was only a facsimile of a local office of the UN here in what was then Ceylon.

And when it did come, full membership of the fellowship of nations followed long running opposition from the likes of the USSR – based on British naval bases extant in the island and the penchant for Whitehall to treat Colombo as a far-flung suburb – was admittedly part of a ‘package deal’ in which Soviet satellites were also granted a place at the UN table.

The cherry on the cake for Ceylon at the United Nations was when it was elected to the prestigious Security Council in 1960; and with the presidency of that council being held in turn by member states, the island’s representative Sir Claude Corea became its first Ceylonese head in May of the same year.

As a member of the UN Security Council, the country played a key role in debates at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and a host of other specialised agencies in the world’s premier international organisation.

With the presidency of that council being held in turn by member states, the island’s representative Sir Claude Corea became its first Ceylonese head