By Dr Bertrand Ramcharan
Formerly Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General and Chancellor of the University of Guyana
At the start of Guyana’s foreign service in 1966, Ms. Joan Seymour and the late Miles Stoby were among its first batch of diplomats. Both have just had published important books on their journeys that are parts of the history of Guyana, joining earlier contributions from their batch-mates such as Rudy Insanally, Rashleigh Jackson, and others.
Joan’s book is My Unplanned Journey (2022) and Miles’ book is Life in the Glass House. Tales from the United Nations (2022). Both authors transitioned from the Guyana Mission to the UN in New York into the UN Secretariat where they served with distinction, both becoming Directors in the UN service. I knew them both as UN colleagues and enjoyed their friendship.
Miles’ book is a reproduction of fascinating diary entries from September 1999 to December 2006, when he served in the Executive Office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In the introduction to the book, he referred briefly to his education in Guyana and in England. He occasionally provides insights into the times when he served in the Guyana Mission to the UN. What comes through distinctly from the book is Miles’ attachment to professionalism in the foreign service and in the international civil service. This is a salutary lesson for today’s Guyana: professionalism in service.
Miles’ insights are on international issues that he witnessed from his UN vantage point and are of interest to students and practitioners of international affairs. There are occasional insights from his service as a Guyanese diplomat. He writes, for example, of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus: “For Guyana, with our still innocent perception of international affairs, the issue required no debate – Turkey had violated international law by invading Cyprus and occupying the Northern region where the Turkish Cypriots were concentrated. We were prepared to admit to some complicating factors such as the coup d’etat which had brought a junta to power…But, for us, none of these factors outweighed the essential principles that were the pillars on which we thought the UN stood – non-interference in the internal affairs of states and respect for state sovereignty.”
He was, however, to discover the nuances that invariably accompany international problems: “A group of five non-aligned countries were selected to craft a resolution suitable for the circumstances. Guyana was a member. We took the lead and prepared a short text demanding Turkey’s withdrawal…We soon learnt the reality of religious and ethnic politics…The resolution that emerged from the Group, and which was overwhelmingly adopted by the General Assembly, balanced respect for non-interference with appreciation of the Turkish Cypriots’ minority status. When we joined the Security Council the following year, we found that it was not possible to move the Council to act decisively on Cyprus.” International political considerations had intruded – something that Guyana needs to remember when it comes to its border controversy with Venezuela.
From the perspective of the history of Guyana, Joan Seymour’s book is an engaging, fascinating one, full of precious insights and feeling. She writes of the Georgetown of her childhood: a well-planned and well-kept city with clean gardens, parapets, trenches and drains, a Georgetown of high standards. She writes of the emphasis on manners and learning in the Seymour family and gives glimpses of the poetic world of her famous father, A.J. Seymour. She opens a window into the world of learning and striving at Bishops’ High School, which she attended.
Joan writes of her quest for a higher education, which would take her to the University of the West Indies, in Kingston, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Paris, and other European cities. In the process she visited some of the great theatres, operas, and galleries. I worked closely with her when we both served in the UN Political Department. She is a very cultured person.
The start of the Guyana diplomatic service would see her stationed, in this order, in London, Ottawa, Caracas and New York. Next to the Ambassador in London, Ottawa and Caracas, she would be the mainstay of the Embassy, carrying out the diverse tasks that an Embassy officer is required to do. One gets an insight into how the Guyana diplomatic service operated at this time, and one takes one’s hat off to officers like Joan, who did the ‘yeoman/yeowoman’ work in the embassies.
After her service in the Guyana Mission to the UN in New York, Joan transitioned into the UN Secretariat, first joining the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) as Special Assistant to the Director, then moving, successively, into the UN Decolonization Department, the Offices of the Secretary-General, where we were colleagues, and the UN Department of Political Affairs, where we were also colleagues.
In the UN’s Decolonization Department, Joan undertook several missions for the UN to colonial and dependent territories, writing fact-finding reports for consideration at the UN. Throughout the book, one comes into contact with Joan’s professionalism, of which I have first-hand knowledge as a colleague. Here again, as with Miles Stoby, one comes to appreciate the emphasis on professional standards – decidedly an insight to be kept very much in mind in the foreign service of today’s Guyana.
As a historical account of a Guyanese young lady aspiring to a professional career, and as an account of a Guyanese woman navigating her way in the world of Guyana’s diplomatic service and the world of the UN Secretariat, Joan’s book offers invaluable insights. She is refreshingly candid about how Caribbean men treated Caribbean women, and about the attitudes of African men towards women.
She writes about how she sought and found love, and how she had her fair share of challenges. She is refreshingly honest in writing about these matters. I venture to suggest that Guyanese and Caribbean women would find her experiences utterly fascinating. At the end of the book, one gets the impression of a person at peace with the journey she has travelled.
To conclude, I find these two distinguished Guyanese diplomats offering to Guyanese some treasured insights: strive for manners, education, and quality; enrich Guyana by the quality of one’s self-development, one’s appreciation of our shared human dignity; strive for professionalism in service; and strive to be able to write well – as both authors have done.
