The United Nations has named South Africa's Navanethem Pillay as the world body's new human rights chief. The 67-year-old lawyer and judge has worked for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Rwanda Tribunal, as well as sitting on the bench of South Africa's High Court. She succeeds Canada's Louise Arbour.
In many regards, Navanethem Pillay is a pioneer. In 1967, she became the first non-white to open a legal practice in South Africa's KwaZulu Natal province. Some 30 years later, she became the first non-white woman appointed as a judge to sit on the South African High Court. In 2003, she was one of the first 18 judges named to sit on the ICC.
Prejudice
In South Africa, Ms Pillay faced prejudice both as a woman and an ethnic Indian. The fact that she came from a poor family also counted against her. After studying law, she faced a big great deal of difficulty finding a practice that would hire her. However, those experiences helped her to be more sympathetic to the plight of minorities in South Africa.
She continues, "I think it certainly helped. And it also helped to have the experience of (being a) woman because then you are more sensitive. You're sensitive to what the poor experience and sensitive to what women experience. You need all these experiences when you sit as a judge. It is much more difficult if you come from a well-to-do background and have no experience of reality on the ground".
Nelson Mandela
After running a successful legal practice in South Africa for 30 years, Navanethem Pillay's reputation as a human rights activist is more than secure. Her achievements were recognized in 1995 when Nelson Mandela's government appointed her to serve as the first woman on South Africa's High Court. She served eight years as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda before joining the ICC in The Hague. During her time at the Rwanda Tribunal, she presided over landmark cases that defined rape as an institutionalised weapon of war and a crime of genocide.
Pension
Judge Pillay was planning her 2009 retirement when UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked her if she was willing to stand as a candidate for the post of High Commissioner for human rights. It was an offer that she could not refuse and one that she was willing to delay retirement for: "This is the kind of work that I spent my life doing. Which is promoting the principle of accountability and international justice. It's a new notion that only started 15 years ago when the ICTY was established. We were the pioneering lot I think who turned a vision into reality".
As High Commissioner, she has pledged to work for a coherent approach to all human rights, ranging from the right to clean water, the right to schooling, to the right to adequate housing. She following the path mapped out by her friend and predecessor Louise Arbour.
Tags: human rights, international justice, United Nations