Sir Desmond does Sri Lanka proud
 

By Reggie Fernando from London

Desmond de Silva QC, or Sir Desmond as he is now known, was at the Buckingham Palace in London on February 21 to receive the accolade and the insignia of the Knighthood that was conferred upon him by the Queen in Britain's New Year Honours. In fact the honour of Knight Bachelor, which he now enjoys, is perhaps the oldest title in Britain.

Sir Desmond, who was educated at Trinity College and in England, is the only son of the late Fred E. de Silva, PC who was a former Mayor and MP for Kandy who later became Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France and Switzerland. Desmond's grandfather was the well-known George E. de Silva, one of the many who fought for Sri Lanka's independence.

Perhaps one of the high profile Queen's Counsels in Britain, Sir Desmond was recruited by the international community to help set up and run an international war crimes tribunal to deal with the horrors of a decade long civil war that ruined Sierra Leone and had destabilised much of West Africa. When he was appointed the Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal he became one of just four international chief prosecutors in the world!

Appointed by Kofi Annan, former Secretary General, Sir Desmond enjoyed full diplomatic status as that of an Under Secretary General of the United Nations and on many occasions had to deal with member States of the Security Council in discharging his functions to the UN backed Court.

It was because of legal arguments deployed by him before the Special Court for Sierra Leone that the Court decided that the recruitment and use of child soldiers in war was a crime in International Law and had been so before the signing of the Rome Statute that created the International Court in The Hague.

This was the first time in legal history that the use of child soldiers, the scourge of wars in Africa and Asia, had come before an International Court.

Sir Desmond played a significant role in other ground breaking areas that will have worldwide implications because they now form part of the jurisprudence of International Law.

Returning from his international duties, he has resumed his role as a Head of Chambers in London. At Oxford University he was elected senior member of St. Anthony's College and was much in demand as a participant in legal fora in the United States.

In 1980, he contested in a by election for the largest ward in the City of London.

Not only was he elected, he did so with a huge majority. He remained an elected councillor for the City of London till 1995 when the sheer pressure of his Court work drove him to give it up. Throughout this period he was also on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's "Think Tank".

Coming from a distinguished legal and political family in Sri Lanka, Sir Desmond has never lost his love for the country. He is the first to admit that his current international duties have prevented him from visiting Sri Lanka and his family home in Kandy which his sister has turned into a exotic hotel. Taprobane Island off Weligama which he inherited from his father has been given out on a long lease.

This former soldier, city father, diplomat, international lawyer and noted wit, is married to Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia and they have one daughter, Victoria.