A passionate affair with diplomacy
View(s):Yohan Senarath has excelled in the Model UN circuit in South Asia and internationally as well. During his school days he bagged the “Best Delegate Award” at CO-MUN, SLMUN, Indian MUN in New Delhi and at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Model UN in Rajastan, India. He also chaired the Security Council of SLMUN, COMUN, and Indian MUN in New Delhi. He was the President of the General Assembly of COMUN in 2010. At the University Level he went onto win three consecutive awards at the Harvard National Model UN (HNMUN) the most competitive University MUN Conference in the world which sees over 3000
Yohan at the UN.
university students from 48 countries take part in the conference. In 2012 Yohan was awarded the “Outstanding Delegate” award having taken part in the single delegation Security Council, the most competitive committee for single delegations in the conference. US Universities that were represented include Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University,Georgetown University, George Washington University andWest Point Military Academy. National Model UN teams from the Netherlands and Australia take part in the conference. He has also won awards at MUN conferences hosted by Yale University, University of Chicago, GeorgetownUniversity and MountHolyokeCollege. YohanSenarath is currently the co-captain of the Clark Model UN team which is ranked 17th in the US this year.
Yohan’s achievements in the US Model UN circuit were recognized when he was accepted for an internship with the Sri Lankan Mission to the UN in New York. Impressed by his work during the Fallof 2011, he received a chance to work with the Mission again during the Summer of 2012 and the Spring of 2013. He was assigned to participate and report on the Third Committee of the General Assembly and Security Council. He also was assigned to participate in the two conferences of the Arms Trade Treaty Process which sought to introduce legally binding international standards to regulate the world arms trade. Apart from his reporting obligations he was a speech writer for Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Dr. Palitha Kohona and wrote press releases for the Mission. He also was entrusted with making the first drafts of Sri Lanka’s statements on certain subjects. He will be interning with the Ambassador of the Caribbean Community to the United Nations in New York this Summer.
Yohan was awarded a scholarship as a student leader on campus to attend the Annual Policy Conference of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which is the largest annual gathering of the Jewish community in the United States. The conference was held in WashingtonDC and Yohan got a firsthand insight into the lobbying efforts that take place on Capitol Hill. Yohan then went onto be selected by the Anti-Defamation League as one of sixteen influential campus student leaders from the US to take part in a Campus Leaders Mission to Israel this August. He will have the opportunity to meet with Israel’s top policy makers, learn firsthand the challenges that Israel faces and visit some of the most religious places in the world. He also has extensive experience working on conflict resolution issues and women’s rights issues. Yohan’s conflict resolution work involved being part of an election monitoring team from the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) for the Local Council elections held in the Northern Province in 2011 after a period of 33 years. He visited polling booths in Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Mutur, the Nagadeepa and Delft islands. On the subject of women’s rights, at the age of 18 he co- produced and co-directed a play called “Apeksha” held at the British Council Auditorium. The play was funded by Oxfam International and the proceeds generated were distributed for the enhancement of the women in the town of Thalpe in South Sri Lanka.
Yohan Senarath is on scholarship at ClarkUniversity double majoring in Political Science and History. Yohan is currently magna cum laude academic standing and received First Deans List Honors during his previous semester for academic excellence. He has been accepted to the Political Science Honors Program at Clark and is currently writing his Honors Thesis on the UN Human Rights Council.
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