Sri Lanka in UN General Assembly’s Chair

Career diplomat shines in a stellar role

There is a saying that suggests it’s not the years of life you’ve lived but the life in those years. If there’s a stalwart of the erstwhile Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) who epitomises that aphorism, it is Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe.

Hailing from a well-known southern family, Shirley was born not in Galle – the stamping grounds of his illustrious ancestors – but the more urbane Colombo in 1913.

Something of a scholar, he was educated at Royal College and then Ceylon University College (as the capital’s varsity was then known); and later, added a Bachelor’s Degree in Western Classics from the University of London at the tender age of 21.

As a civil servant, Amerasinghe had a wide and varied career – one which lasted 44 years – that saw him hold posts from kachcheri level through the ranks of a lower magistracy, and sundry ministry secretariat positions right up to being Secretary to the Treasury and Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Finance (1961-1963).

This was also while serving as a member of the Central Bank’s Monetary Board, and Alternate Governor for Ceylon in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Along the way to becoming a man for all seasons, he wore the hats of managers of boards and controllers of Treasury establishments in the ’50s.

En route to his first overseas appointment as Counsellor at Ceylon’s embassy in Washington D.C. (1953-1958), he tucked the feathers of Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Nationalised Services and Road Transport, and Chairman of the Port (Cargo) Corporation to his cap.

Later in 1963, Amerasinghe was Ceylon’s High Commissioner to India – and served concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal and Afghanistan until graduating to the UN in 1967 as the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, which post he would hold until 1980.

At the world’s premier international organisation, he rendered yeoman service, helming numerous chairs and presidencies of apex bodies governing the seabed, as well as use of the planet’s oceans – including a stint as Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean, which Sri Lanka proposed to be used as a ‘zone of peace.’

It was as President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) however, that Amerasinghe reached the apogee of a stellar career, which placed Sri Lanka at the zenith of its UN nexus.

It was as President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) however, that Amerasinghe reached the apogee of a stellar career, which placed Sri Lanka at the zenith of its UN nexus