Three Lankans receive “Long Service” awards at UN ceremony
UNITED NATIONS -- The UN Staff Union honoured 488 UN staffers who had served the Organisation for over 20 to 30 years, in what was described as a “Long Service” award ceremony at UN headquarters recently.
The honourees, including three Sri Lankans, were given either certificates (for those with over 20 years of service) or plaques (over 30 years of service). The three Sri Lankans were Neshantha Karunanayake, Tilak Samaranayake and Chandana Mutucumarana.
Neshantha is currently a Senior Information Management Assistant in the IT unit at the UN Archives and Records Management Section (ARMS). Prior to joining ARMS, he served in the Procurement Division in the mid 90s and in the Building Management Services during the early years of his career in early 1980.
Tilak, who has served the United Nations for 29 years, joined the organisation in 1989 and worked in various positions in the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management.
Chandana, who has been serving United Nations as an international civil servant since 1995, has earned the distinction of being the first Sri Lankan to be elected to the executive board of the UN Headquarters Staff Union in New York representing over 6000 staff members. He works in the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management – which provides high quality meeting and documentation services to all Member States in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi. He is a former President of the Royal College Old Boys East Coast Association.