Central Bank Governor’s sister Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy appointed to JKH Board

October, 1, 2018

Just in a little over 2 years after Sri Lanka’s oldest Central Bank Governor so far appointed - Dr. Indrajit Coomarswamy resigned from Sri Lanka’s foremost conglomerate John Keells Holding’s PLC (JKH) as independent non- executive director on John Keells board, his sister Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy had been appointed to JKH board as an independent non-executive director of the board, latest disclosure by the company reveals.

Accordingly the company in a disclosure said that Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy had been appointed to the John Keels Board as an independent non-executive director with effect from 1st October 2018 and that she has no relevant interest in shares.

Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy’s brother Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy who was appointed JKH board in 2011, resigned from the JKH Board with effect from 3rd July 2016 consequent to his appointment as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy was the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict until 13 July 2012 in which then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her to the position in April 2006. She was appointed to the Constitutional Council (Sri Lanka) as a civil representative on September 10, 2015, in which she served till September 2018.

Dr. Coomaraswamy received honorary PhDs from Amherst College, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Essex and several more, and she is a lawyer by training and formerly the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, is an internationally known human rights advocate who has worked as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (1994-2003). She was appointed Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in May 2003. She has served as a member of the Global Faculty of the New York University School of Law. She also taught a summer course at New College, Oxford, every year on the International Human Rights of Women from 1996-2006. She has published widely, including two books on constitutional law and numerous articles on ethnic studies and the status of women.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis