Oral history interview with Shridath Ramphal, 2002

Biographical Note

Foreign Minister, Guyana

Scope and Contents

Background and childhood: family migration to Guyana during 1870s as indentured laborers, eldest son, born in 1928 in Berbice, Guyana, grew up in Georgetown, Guyana; education: Modern High School, Modern Educational Institute, law, Kings College, London, dissertation on federalism in the West Indies, LLM, Kings College, Harvard, 1962-3; career: minister of foreign affairs, 1972, chairman of Ministerial Meeting of the Conference of Non-Aligned Heads of State, 1972, secretary general of the Commonwealth, 1975-90, Brandt Commission on International Development Issues, Palme Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues, Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development, Independent Commission on Humanitarian Issues, South Commission, 1987, chairman of West Indian Commission, late 1980s, co-chair of Commission on Global Governance, 1995, special advisor to the secretary-general for UN Conference on Environment and Development, president of World Conservation Union, chairman of US Committee on Development Planning; writings: Our Country the Planet: Forging a Partnership for Survival; personal: family reminiscences, recollections of WWII, ethnicity as a factor in Guyanese politics, outrage at Suez crisis sparking interest in politics, experiences as Caribbean student in London leading to interest in establishment of federalism in the West Indies, drafting of constitution of Guyana, Cold War effect on human rights, abolishment of apartheid in South Africa, colleague reminiscences; interests: human rights, civil liberties, social and economic conditions in the Caribbean

Subjects

• Caribbean Area--Economic conditions.
• Caribbean Area--Social conditions.
• Commonwealth Secretariat.
• Economic development--Environmental aspects.
• Foreign ministers--Guyana--Interviews.
• Human rights.
• Interviews
• Jolly, Richard, interviewer.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Ramphal, S. S.--Interviews.
• United Nations--History.
• United Nations--Officials and employees--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 2001