Mallica Vajrathon (born 1936) is a sociologist, political scientist and former

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Senior Staff member. Her grandfather was

Joseph Caulfield James Joseph Caulfeild James (6 July 1860 – 6 July 1925) was an English language, English teacher from Birkenhead, England. He was the principal tutor to Vajiravudh, Prince Vajiravudh of Siam, who later became king of Thailand, Siam. Royal tutor Ca ...

, a special tutor to Prince Vajiravudh of Thailand (who later became

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

), as well being second Chairman of the

Royal Bangkok Sports Club The Royal Bangkok Sports Club (RBSC, ) is an exclusive sports club in Bangkok, Thailand, best known to the public for its horse racing venue. Founded in 1901, it was the first racecourse in the country and one of the oldest golf courses. Original ...

. Her father was T. Vajrathon of The Bangkok Electric Authority of Thailand and her mother is Malee James Vajrathon. Vajrathon was married to Irish writer Erskine B. Childers.

Early life

Born in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, she is the eldest daughter of a large multi-cultural family. She went to grade school at Mater Dei School run by the

Ursulines The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of women that in 1572 branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula. The Ursulines trace their origins to th ...

. She continued her studies at

Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU; ; , ) is a public university, public Autonomous university, autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally founded during King Chulalongkorn's reign as a school for training ro ...

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

, the Sorbonne and

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

. As an ''alumna'', 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

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 City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, US. In 1960, upon returning to Thailand, Vajrathon was recruited by

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

. In 1968, she worked with Erskine B. Childers in a "pioneering" project in Development Support Communication. During her work for UNICEF in Thailand and Indonesia, she was asked to take numerous photographs which were published in two books by Judith Spiegelman,. In 1975, she returned to New York to work in

UNFPA The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies and protocols, increasing access to birth control, and leadin ...

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 Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...

. Known to be an outspoken advocate of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

, she was the editor of ''Equal Time'', a publication of the group on equal rights for women in the United Nations. Vajrathon was selected by the Secretary General of the

Fourth World Conference on Women The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace was the name given for a conference convened by the United Nations during 4–15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. At this conference, governments from around the ...

Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995
/ref> to be Principal Advisor for the preparation of the conference from 1993-1995.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vajrathon, Mallica 1936 births Living people Mallica Vajrathon Mallica Vajrathon Southern Illinois University alumni University of Paris alumni Mallica Vajrathon Cornell University alumni