After becoming a disciple of Sri Chinmoy, Vijaya continued trying out for theatre and film parts, but gradually her focus began to shift. At one audition, the director, who was also a friend, pulled her aside and said, “I can see that your heart isn’t in acting anymore, and your real commitment is to spirituality and self-discovery."
In 1974, she was inspired to get a permanent job at the United Nations. With tremendous perseverance, she showed up every day in the Personnel Office for weeks, until she was finally offered a post there. She began working in Personnel, eventually recruiting Tour Guides, and gradually acquiring the legal skills to serve as a legal liaison between UN the Personnel Office and the United States Mission to the UN, in addition to her other tasks.
The Claxton case
In 1988, Vijaya rebuffed the unwanted advances of a high-ranking UN official. At the time she hoped the incident could just be forgotten. Subsequently, however, the same official became her immediate supervisor and continued to harass her, even as he sought to eliminate her job.
In 1991, to save her career, she felt she had no choice but to reveal the truth about what was behind this official’s malevolent actions. What transpired after she filed her appeal before the internal UN judicial bodies sounds like thriller fiction.
To quote from an article about women at the UN that appeared in the New York Village Voice on 20 May 1997: “Someone fired a shot through the glass window of a coffee shop by the United Nations, just above the head of Catherine Claxton. Another bullet shattered Claxton’s windshield as she drove home from her job at the UN one night on the Long Island Expressway. Claxton’s red 1988 Hyundai was almost run off the road in the same spot on the expressway on three other occasions. The incidents ...occurred after Claxton became the first woman to launch a sexual harassment case against the UN."
"The case itself made headlines and history. But what Claxton suffered after she filed her grievance – the gunshots, an office ransacking in which her diaries were stolen and her computer was sabotaged ... and crank calls... has never been disclosed until now... The UN was so concerned for Claxton’s safety that they assigned a personal bodyguard." In addition to the UN bodyguard during work hours, Vijaya’s friends, as much as possible, would take turns accompanying her, also for her safety, whenever she went anywhere after work or on weekends, and this arrangement continued until the case was resolved.
The Voice continued, “The Claxton case was a landmark. The UN didn’t even have a sexual harassment policy until 1992 – after Claxton launched her case." There was heightened media interest when the accused UN official hired a high-profile defense lawyer, as this was a level of representation in internal UN proceedings that was unprecedented.
Also focusing attention on the case was the fact that, as reported by The New York Times on 20 December 1992: “Officials at the United Nations are immune from lawsuits in United States courts, so there is no independent legal route... Many women at the United Nations are vulnerable because they come to the United States on visas that allow them and their families to remain in this country only as long as they are employed [at the UN]."
The Village Voice on 20 May 1997 summarised: “The UN appointed an Irish Supreme Court justice to hear Claxton’s case. She found the official guilty of sexual assault and harassment in 1994. He resigned days later. The UN then tried to rehire him – twice – but backed down after pressure from women’s rights activists...After the official was found guilty...the UN granted Claxton $210,000 in damages and legal fees."
A full-page picture of Vijaya appeared on the front of the28 December 1994 edition of New York Newsday, with the headline “She Won", after the UN finally awarded her the fees. Other papers covered the story as well, including the Los Angeles Times, which ended its article outlining the following positive developments: “The Claxton case, because of the wide publicity it engendered, pointed up the lack of procedures and rules in dealing with sexual harassment in the vast U.N. structure with employees from all cultures in the world. In Friday’s announcement, the Secretary-General said he has assembled a task force to recommend improvements to current policies and procedures for handling future allegations of sexual harassment."
Although the case was a cause of deep personal distress, Vijaya never lost faith in the ideals of the UN, and she would always defend it against any and all criticism, saying that no institution is perfect, nor are the human beings who work there. Dealing with her own case was one of the important factors that led to Vijaya’s long crusade for legal reform in the United Nations.
The more I fight
the more I love
Blade blazing
Smile steadfast
Surprisingly I find
I shelter others
How kind the Supreme to harness
Even my rage
And transform it
Into His Own Unswerving Sword.
Vijaya
published 1999
A pioneer for legal reform
How an actress working at the UN ended up playing a major role in reforming the UN internal justice system, is a story that began while she was still working in her first UN job. Vijaya became interested in defending staff rights and, in addition to her regular duties, began volunteering with the Panel of Counsel. Very soon it became clear that she had a genuine talent for solving cases, with a good grasp of the legal and political nuances, and she was sought after to become a member of the Panel’s Steering Committee to help set its policy and solve its difficult cases.
In 1989, when the post of Coordinator of the Panel of Counsel became vacant, Vijaya applied for the job, which had previously been held by a high ranking official. Ordinarily, a junior staff member would not be eligible for a senior post, but the level of the Coordinator’s post had never been classified. This technicality opened the door for her, as the best candidate, to be selected.
However, Vijaya’s supervisor would not release her from her previous post so that she could begin her new job. When Sri Chinmoy heard of her dilemma, he was very sympathetic and asked if there was not anything she could do to expedite the process. In her typically unstoppable fashion, Vijaya literally pushed her desk and all her filing cabinets out the door and down the hall to her new office to take up her duties as public defender and advocate of UN staff members. The tactic worked, with no one insisting that she return to her old office, and hence she started her new position.
In this position, Vijaya observed first-hand the frustrating inadequacies in the system and its detrimental effect on both the Organisation and its staff. As the number of cases she became involved with reached into the thousands, the need for reform became more and more obvious to her, and more urgent. Because of this and her experiences with her own legal case, she began telling anyone who would listen of the need for internal UN justice reform. She was one of the first to lobby for reform and the most enthusiastic in spearheading the effort to overhaul the system. Sri Chinmoy continuously encouraged Vijaya in these efforts, and she often spoke of the invaluable strength to persevere that she derived from this.
Under the earlier system, appeals by UN staff members usually led to non-binding recommendations by panels of non-judges. The envisioned new system would have panels of judges handing down binding decisions, as well as a mediation division, and an adequately funded office providing legal assistance to staff members, to replace the mainly volunteer Panel of Counsel. After many years a decision was finally made to implement the reforms.
Vijaya
The way Vijaya saw it, “Vijaya Claxton" was known for her successful English Channel swim, whereas “Catherine Claxton" conjured up memories of “The Claxton Case." For that reason, in 2008 Vijaya legally changed her name from Catherine Grace Claxton to Vijaya Claxton, although most colleagues and friends already called her by her spiritual name.
The UN’s handling of her case had come under much criticism at the time, but many of the issues highlighted in the press coverage had since been examined and reforms had been initiated. Vijaya felt she had learned and grown from the experience, and she wanted to continue moving forward into the future. Most importantly, she felt that “Vijaya" was more appropriate for her second career as a mediator, which she found very compatible with her spiritual outlook. All in all, she felt her spiritual name Vijaya, or “Victory", reflected her true self.
Vijaya’s contract was extended three times beyond her retirement age to enable her to participate on the team working to implement the new justice system. It was only when it took effect on 1 July 2009 that Vijaya retired after over 35 years at the UN and more than two decades serving as Coordinator of the Panel of Counsel – with the satisfaction of a job well done, that few would have had the vision, energy and fortitude to complete.
