Mallica Vajrathon

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Mallica Vajrathon
Mallica Vajrathon

Mallica Vajrathon (17 June 1936) is a sociologist, political scientist and former United Nations Senior Staff member. Her grandfather was Joseph Caulfield James, a special tutor to His Royal Highness, Prince Vajiravudh of Thailand (whom later became King), as well being second Chairman of the Royal Bangkok Sports Club[1]. Her father was T. Vajrathon of The Bangkok Electric Authority of Thailand and her mother was Malee James Vajrathon. Vajrathon is the wife of Irish writer Erskine B. Childers.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Bangkok, she is the eldest daughter of a large multi cultural family. She went to grade school at Mater Dei Institute run by the Ursulines. She continued her studies at Chulalongkorn University of Bangkok, Southern Illinois University, the Sorbonne and Cornell. As an alumnus, Vajrathon has received numerous awards and honors. Among them, the Saint Angela Award for Outstanding Service to the Community, 2002 from Mater Dei Institute; and the Outstanding Graduate Award in International Affairs, 1989 from Chulalongkorn University.

[edit] United Nations Civil Service

She is one of the highest ranking United Nations Civil Servants from Thailand. With more than 32 years of service, she began her UN career as an intern at the organization's headquarters in New York. In 1960, upon returning to Thailand, Vajrathon was recruited by UNICEF. In 1968 she worked with Erskine B. Childers in a "pioneering" project in Development Support Communication [2]. During her work for UNICEF in Thailand and Indonesia she was asked to take numerous photographs and they were then published in two books by Judith Spiegelman [3] , [4]. In 1975 she returned to New York to work in UNFPA as a communications officer with Rafael M. Salas. In the early 1980s, Vajrathon was asked to contribute to the Thailand section of the now famous book; the "International Women's Movement Anthology: Sisterhood is Global" by Robin Morgan. Known to be an outspoken advocate of Women's rights, she was the editor of "Equal Time"; a publication of the group on equal right's for women in the United Nations.
Vajrathon was selected by the Secretary General of the Fourth World Conference on Women[5] to be Principal Advisor for the preparation of the conference from 1993-1995.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Royal Bangkok Sports Club
  2. ^ "Communication for Social Change Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings"(Communication for Social Change Consortium, Inc) (2006) ISBN 0977035794 ; pp. 495-499"
  3. ^ "Galong River Boy of Thailand" By Judith Spiegelman (Julian Messner)(New York) (1970) ISBN 0-671-323091
  4. ^ "Ketut, Boy Woodcarver of Bali" by Judith Spiegelman (Julian Messner)(New York) (1971) ISBN 0-671-32415-2
  5. ^ Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995

[edit] References