Sir Shridath Ramphal Papers 1975-1982

Sir Shridath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal QC served as Commonwealth Secretary-General for 15 years, from 1975 to 1990. Details of the collection held here at Marlborough House is to be found in the Complete Guide to his records and in greater detail in each of the by year release lists.

Download the complete guide:

Sir Shridath Ramphal Guide

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): GB 3172 RAMPHAL
Title: RAMPHAL, Sir Shridath (b1928)
Date(s): 1975 – 1982 [1990]
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk or size): 205 files

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s): Ramphal | Sir l Shridath |1928| second Commonwealth Secretary-General

Administrative/Biographical history 

Career: Crown Counsel, British Guiana 1953–54; Asst to Attorney-Gen. 1954–56; Legal Draftsman 1956–58; Solicitor-Gen. 1959–61; Legal Draftsman, West Indies 1958–59; Asst Attorney-Gen., West Indies 1961–62; Attorney- Gen., Guyana 1965–73; member Nat. Assembly 1965–75; Minister of State for External Affairs 1967–72, Minister of Foreign Affairs 1972–75, of Justice 1973–75; Commonwealth Sec.-Gen. 1975–90; Chancellor Univ. of Guyana 1988–92, Univ. of Warwick 1989–2001, Univ. of West Indies 1989–; Queen’s Counsel 1965 and Sr Counsel, Guyana 1966; member Int. Commission of Jurists, Ind. Commission on Int. Devt Issues, Ind. Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues, Ind. Commission on Int. Humanitarian Issues, World Commission on Environment and Devt, South Commission, Carnegie Commission on Deadly Conflict, Bd of Governor Int. Devt Research Center, Canada, Exec. Cttee of Int. Inst. for Environment and Devt, Council of Int. Negotiation Network Carter Center, Georgia, USA 1991–97; Patron One World Broadcasting Trust; Chair. UN Cttee for Devt Planning 1984–87, West Indian Commission 1990–92, Bd Int. Inst. for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) 1995–2001, Advisory Cttee Future Generations Alliance Foundation 1995–97; Pres. World Conservation Union—IUCN 1990–93; Int. Steering Cttee Leadership for Environment and Devt Program Rockefeller Foundation 1991–98; Co-Chair. Commission on Global Governance 1992–2000; Adviser to Sec. -Gen. of United Nations Council for Education and Development 1992; Chief Negotiator on Int. Econ. Issues for the Caribbean Region 1997–2001; Facilitator Belize–Guatemala Dispute 2000–02; John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship 1962; Hon. Bencher of Gray’s Inn 1981; Fellow, King’s Coll., London 1975, LSE 1979, RSA 1981, Magdalen Coll., Oxford 1982

Honours and awards: Order of the Republic (Egypt) 1973; Grand Cross, Order of the Sun (Peru) 1974; Grand Cross, Order of Merit (Ecuador) 1974, Order of Nishaan Izzuddeen (Maldives) 1989, Grand Commdr, Order of Niger 1990, Grand Commdr, Order of the Companion of Freedom (Zambia) 1990, Nishan-e-Quaid-i-Azam (Pakistan) 1990, Order of the Caribbean Community 1991, Commdr Order of the Golden Ark 1994; Hon. LLD (Panjab Univ.) 1975, (Southampton) 1976, (Univ. of The West Indies) 1978, (St Francis Xavier Univ., Halifax, Canada) 1978, (Aberdeen) 1979, (Cape Coast, Ghana) 1980, (London) 1981, (Benin, Nigeria) 1982, (Hull) 1983, (Yale) 1985, (Cambridge) 1985, (Warwick) 1988, (York Univ. , Ont., Canada) 1988, (Malta) 1989, (Otago, New Zealand) 1990; Hon. DHL (Simmons Coll., Boston) 1982; Hon. DCL (Oxon.) 1982, (East Anglia) 1983, (Durham) 1985; Dr hc (Surrey) 1979, (Essex) 1980; Hon. DHumLitt (Duke Univ., USA) 1985; Hon. DLitt (Bradford) 1985, (Indira Gandhi Nat. Open Univ.) 1989; Hon. DSc (Cranfield Inst. of Tech.) 1987; Arden and Atkin Prize, Gray’s Inn 1952, Int. Educ. Award (Richmond Coll., London) 1988, RSA Albert Medal 1988, Medal of Friendship, Cuba 2001, Pravasi Bharata Samman Award 2003

Publications: One World to Share: Selected Speeches of the Commonwealth Secretary-General 1975–79, Nkrumah and the Eighties (1980 Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures), Sovereignty and Solidarity (1981 Callander Memorial Lectures), Some in Light and Some in Darkness: The Long Shadow of Slavery (Wilberforce Lecture) 1983, The Message not the Messenger (STC Communication Lecture) 1985, The Trampling of the Grass (Econ. Commission for Africa Silver Jubilee Lecture) 1985, For the South, a Time to Think 1986, Making Human Society a Civilized State (Corbishley Memorial Lecture) 1987, Inseparable Humanity: An Anthology of Reflections of Shridath Ramphal 1988, An End to Otherness (six speeches) 1990, Our Country, The Planet 1992, No Island is an Island and contribs to journals of legal, political and int. affairs, including International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Caribbean Quarterly, Public Law, Guyana Journal, The Round Table, Royal Society of Arts Journal, Foreign Policy, Third World Quarterly, International Affairs.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer: The Commonwealth Secretariat

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content:

Created during Ramphal’s time in office, the collection comprises of papers arranged under the following sections: Committees 1975 – 1980, includes agendas, supporting papers and minutes of mainly administrative committees such as Meeting of Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, the Secretariat Finance Sub Committee and of the Planning Committee. Ministerial Meetings 1975 – 1979, holds minutes and papers on administrative arrangements through to key discussions at meetings of Education Ministers, Law Ministers, Health Ministers, Senior Officials, Agriculture, Food & Rural Development Ministers, Finance Ministers and Commonwealth Heads of Government and Commonwealth Regional Heads of Government Meeting. Conference 1976, has documents from the Non-Aligned Conference.  Correspondence 1975 – 1980, contains letters to and from the Secretary-General and other senior Secretariat officials and with Commonwealth High Commissions and the UK government. Country Files 1975 -1980, mainly contain briefs prepared by each area of responsibility within the Secretariat; legal, health, youth, education, food production and rural development, science, applied studies, Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, international affairs, trade and finance. Often in preparation for a country visit by the Secretary-General. Specific issues covered relate to The New International Economic Order, Lome Convention and the North South Dialogue as well as the situation in Southern Africa including Commonwealth Aid to Mozambique and sporting links with apartheid South Africa. Divisions 1975 – 1980 contains an overview of the work of each division and their programme areas. Economic 1975 – 1980, contains the Report by a Commonwealth Expert Group: McIntyre Report Towards a New International Economic Order and papers of the Commonwealth Technical Group on the Common Fund and the Brandt Commission. Internal 1975 – 1980, covers Commonwealth Day, including the first simultaneously observed Commonwealth Day. Organisation 1975 – 1980, covers Ramphal’s appointment to the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation Board of Trustees as well as documenting the relationship with other Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth bodies. Reviews 1975 – 1980, includes the Internal Review of Secretariat Activities, 1975 as well a on staff terms and conditions. Speeches 1977 – 1980 contains details of speaking engagements while Topics 1977 – 1979 has information on the Commonwealth Games & a meeting on Small States.

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: All records listed are in the public domain.
Conditions governing reproduction: Normal copyright restrictions apply.
Language/scripts of material: English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements:
Finding aids: Sir Shridath Ramphal Papers, Commonwealth Secretariat, Library and Archives. Also available at www.thecommonwealth.org/archive

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Archivist's note: Source: http://www.worldwhoswho.com/
Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Date(s) of descriptions: 20 March 2011