Dayan Jayatilleka: The strategist Sri Lanka discarded

HE gave Sri Lanka its only victory at Geneva. Six weeks later he was thrown aside. A nation that trashes its finest minds does not deserve victory — and that is why we keep losing.

- By Jihan Hameed

The only win

For decades, Sri Lanka has stumbled through Geneva, battered by hostile resolutions and accusations of war crimes. The UN Human Rights Council became a courtroom, and Sri Lanka its permanent defendant.

Except once.

In May 2009, days after the guns fell silent, Sri Lanka entered Geneva facing certain condemnation. Western powers were prepared to brand the military victory as a crime. Instead, Sri Lanka walked out with its first and only outright diplomatic triumph. The Council passed a resolution praising the defeat of terrorism and pledging support for reconstruction.

That reversal did not come from ministries in Colombo or from scripted bureaucrats. It came from one man — Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva — who refused to follow the script of surrender.

The strategy that worked

Dayan understood that Geneva was not about facts alone. It was about framing, alliances, and conviction.

He reframed Sri Lanka’s struggle as a Global South cause. He warned Asia, Africa, and Latin America that if Sri Lanka could be punished for defeating terrorism, any one of them could be next. In doing so, he transformed isolation into solidarity.

He built coalitions across continents. Russia, China, Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela, and blocs of African states rallied. Not as a favour, but because he persuaded them that defending Sri Lanka meant defending the principle of sovereignty itself.

He changed the language of diplomacy.