Navanethem Pillay
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Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (born 23 September 1941) is a South African jurist who served as the
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 ...
High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. A South African of Indian Tamil origin, Pillay was the first non-white woman judge of the
High Court of South Africa The High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law in South Africa. It is divided into nine provinces of South Africa, provincial divisions, some of which sit in more than one location. Each High Court division has general jurisdiction ov ...
.''
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'' (28 July 2008).
FACTBOX-South Africa's Pillay is new human rights chief
. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
She has also served as a judge of the International Criminal Court and President of the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international court, international ''ad-hoc'' court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, Resolutio ...
. Her four-year term as High Commissioner for Human Rights began on 1 September 2008
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...
(2008).
Navanethem Pillay confirmed as new High Commissioner for Human Rights
. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
and was extended an additional two years in 2012.Navanethem Pillay
/ref> In September 2014 Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad succeeded her in her position as High Commissioner for Human Rights. In April 2015, Pillay became the 16th Commissioner of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty. She is also one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
. Pillay was born and raised in Durban, South Africa where she later attended the
University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...
, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in 1963 and her Bachelor of Law in 1965. After university, Pillay pursued a career as an attorney and served under criminal defense attorney N.T. Naicker, joining the legal defense against
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
. In 1967, Pillay started her own law firm and became the first woman to do so in her home province of Natal. In 1981, Pillay applied to and attended
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
under the foreign exchange Harvard-South Africa Scholarship Program and earned her Master of Law. In 1988, she completed her thesis and graduated from
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
with a Doctorate of Jurisprudence. Pillay was nominated and confirmed to the High Court of South Africa by the Judicial Service Commission under supervision of the bar association in 1995. Towards the end of her term, the Minister of Justice Abdullah Omar and President Mandela submitted her name as a nominee for the U.N. Security Council and a judge on the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1995. Between 1999 and 2003, Pillay served on the ICTR and was elected President Judge. In 2003, the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statue of the ICC elected her as a judge in the International Criminal Court and served as member of the Appeals Chamber until 2008. In 2008, the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon appointed Pillay and the General Assembly of the U.N. approved her position as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is currently serving as an
ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...
judge of the
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...
on ''The'' ''Gambia v Myanmar''''.'' In addition, she is the Chair of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty in Madrid, the President of the Advisory Council of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, and the Chair of the Quasi-Judicial Inquiry into Detention in the
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.


Background


Early childhood

Navanetham Nadoo was born to Narrainsamy Nadoo and Santhama Nadoo in 1941 in a poor neighborhood of
Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...
, Natal Province,
Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...
of Indian Tamil descent. Her grandparents came from India as indentured servants to work on South African sugar
plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
s in Natal in the 1890s. Her parents had an
arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of Marriage, marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures, a professional matchmaki ...
during their early teens and had 8 children, the fifth being Pillay. Narriansamy was a bus-driver by trade and took up other jobs such as fishing to supplement their income while Santhama was a homemaker. The two raised their family with strong
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
values, emphasizing equality between the men and women in the family. While most of Pillay's counterparts during elementary school were married off, her parents insisted she and her two other sisters attend school like their brothers. At the time, there were more children in South Africa than there were spots in schools. Adamant on ensuring education for all her children, Pillay's mother would wait in long admission lines, using the birth certificates of her older children to get her younger children into school. With limited money for school supplies, Santhama Pillay would stitch together notebooks for her younger children, using blank pages from the used notebooks of her elder children.


Elementary and high school

In school, Pillay experienced an environment completely different than her home life, learning a new religion in a new language. Despite their personal beliefs, teachers were strictly prohibited from addressing politics, including apartheid, out of fear that the school administration would retaliate. Pillay had her first encounter with the law when she was five years old and testified in court after being robbed of 5 pounds. Her mother had given her the money to give to her father as these were his wages for the month. While the subject was convicted, the court did not return the money to her father. Pillay received many accolades for her writing during her early childhood. When she was 10 years old, Pillay wrote an in-class essay on how black individuals received heavier sentences than their white counterparts in South African courts using information she had overheard from her parents and teachers since she could not access radios or newspapers. At age 14, Pillay submitted an essay on why South Africans should buy South-African made commerce to a competition held by the Durban Chamber of Commerce, later receiving a bronze medal for her work. At 15, Pillay published an essay on the role of women in instilling values in children which earned her an award of books from the Jewish Women's Union.


College years and beyond

Supported by donations from the local Indian community, she graduated from the
University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...
with a BA in 1963 and an LLB in 1965. She was sponsored by the citizens of Clairwood, the Durban City Council, and a scholarship from the university. During her years at the University of Natal, the campus was extremely politically active. Most classes and graduations were segregated which infuriated many students on campus. Under apartheid, Pillay was forced to share what limited resources they were given amongst all non-white students at the university. She once had to share a required textbook in a non-white library with 20 of her other non-white classmates. In 1959, South Africa passed the Separate Universities Act which forced previously de-segregated universities to re-segregate. As a result, Pillay was forced to transfer to the nearest non-white university, University at Salisbury Island, after her first year of university. While the University of Natal offered an LLB program, University at Salisbury Island did not. She filed for an exemption with Minister of Justice, calling the office directly after receiving no response and was then able to return to Natal where she could finish her degree. She later attended
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
, obtaining an
LLM A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...
in 1982 and a
Doctor of Juridical Science A Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD; ), or a Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD; ), is a research doctorate degree in law that is equivalent to a Ph.D. degree. In most countries, it is the most advanced law degree that can be earned. Australia ...
degree in 1988. Pillay is the first South African to obtain a doctorate in law from
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
. She met her husband Paranjothee “Gaby” Anthony Pillay in 1962 as the first lawyer she offered a contract of articles to. In January 1965, the two married, eventually going on to have two daughters.


Legal career

Pillay has spent much of her legal career advocating for the preservation of international human rights law, with a special focus on crimes regarding rape and sexual violence. She was very involved in the anti-apartheid movement, defending political opponents of apartheid in their cases against the state for poor prison conditions and the wrongful use of torture.


Shadow work

After graduating University of Natal, Pillay had the choice of becoming an
advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...
or an attorney. Pillay chose to pursue a legal career as an attorney which required two years of service as an attorney before becoming an admitted attorney. She served under N.T. Naiker for two years, a member of the
African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
. Naiker was often under house arrest and had to rely on Pillay to testify for his clients in courts. In 1967, Pillay became one of three women admitted attorneys and the first non-white woman to open her own law practice in Natal Province. She says she had no other alternative: "No law firm would employ me because they said they could not have white employees taking instructions from a coloured person".Jonah Fisher (28 July 2008).
Profile: New UN human rights chief
. ''
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
''. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
As a non-white lawyer under the
Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
regime, she was not allowed to enter a judge's chambers.


Private practice

During her 28 years as a lawyer in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, she defended anti-Apartheid activistsLouis Charbonneau (28 July 2008).
U.N. assembly confirms S.African as human rights chief
. ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
''. Retrieved on 20 April 2009.
of the African National Congress, the Unity Movement, the Black Consciousness Movement, and Azapo. She also helped expose the use of
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
and poor conditions of political detainees. When her husband was detained in 1971 under the Terrorism Act, she successfully sued to prevent the police from using unlawful methods of interrogation against him.Interview with Vino Reddy
(11 August 2002). ''Voices of Resistance''. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
In 1973, she won the right for political prisoners on
Robben Island Robben Island () is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch language, Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrika ...
, including
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
, to have access to lawyers in ''State v Kader Hassim and 9 others'' and ''State v Harry Gwala and 9 others''.Maggie Farley (26 July 2008).
Human rights commissioner fought a long battle for her own rights
. ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
''. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
While providing legal counsel, her clients recommended she consult judges with expertise in international law and humanitarian law on their cases. Pillay then applied to and attended
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1981 under the foreign exchange Harvard-South Africa Scholarship Program and earned her Master of Law. The Harvard-South Africa Scholarship Program was a foreign exchange program created by anti-apartheid activists on Harvard's campus. They demanded that if the university were to continue to invest in companies that did business with South Africa under apartheid that they offer opportunities for South African students to study at Harvard. After completing her thesis, she graduated from
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
with a Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1988. She co-founded the Advice Desk for the Abused and ran a shelter for victims of domestic violence. As a member of the Women's National Coalition, she contributed to the inclusion in South Africa's Constitution of an equality clause prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation. In 1992, she co-founded the international women's rights group
Equality Now Equality Now is a non-governmental organization founded in 1992 to advocate for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls. Equality Now works through public policy channels to create a just world for women and girls. Th ...
.


High Court of South Africa

In 1995, the year after the
African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
came to power, Pillay was nominated and confirmed to the High Court of South Africa by the President Nelson Mandela and the Judicial Service Commission under supervision of the bar association, becoming the first non-white woman to serve on the court. The Judicial Service Commission is a group of jurists hand picked by the President to screen incoming candidates on the High Court of South Africa and compile the list of nominees. Pillay's connection with Nelson Mandela during their work against apartheid made her a familiar name to Mandela during his presidency, putting her on the short-list for the nomination to the court. Shortly after her appointment, President
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
called Pillay to personally congratulate her on her judgeship stating “your appointment gives me great personal joy. I hope it soon will be important”. She noted that "the first time I entered a judge's chambers was when I entered my own." Her tenure on the High Court was short, as the
United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
elected her to serve as a judge at the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international court, international ''ad-hoc'' court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, Resolutio ...
(ICTR) shortly after.
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
.
Judge Navanethem Pillay
". Retrieved on 30 July 2008.


International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

In 1995, the Minister of Justice Abdullah Omar and President Mandela submitted Pillay's name as a nominee for the U.N. Security Council and a judge on the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Between 1999 and 2003, Pillay served on the ICTR and was elected President Judge. She served for eight years, including four years as president. She was the only female judge for the first four years of the tribunal.Katy Glassborow (26 July 2006).
Apartheid Legacy Haunts ICC Appeals Judge
. Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
Her tenure on the ICTR is best remembered for her role in the landmark trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu, which established that
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
and
sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...
could constitute acts of
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
.Emily Newburger (Spring 2006).
The bus driver's daughter
. ''Harvard Law Bulletin''. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
Bill Berkeley (11 October 1998). "Judgment Day". ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' Sunday Magazine, p. W10.
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international court, international ''ad-hoc'' court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, Resolutio ...
(1999)
Fourth annual report to the United Nations
. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
Pillay said in an interview, "From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong signal that rape is no longer a trophy of war."


Notable cases


Rape as a form of genocide

In the case of ''The Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu'' on 2 September 1988, the court indicted Akayesu for being individually responsible for death and harm of
Tutsi The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...
s during the Rwandan Genocide. It was during the case that Pillay was able to set an international legal precedent which considered
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
as a form of genocide and a
crime against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
. The court argued that crimes against humanity are not defined by their discriminatory intent. Rather, an act is considered a crime against humanity if it "part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population". In this case, Akayesu was mayor of the Taba commune where many Tutis women took refuge and purposefully instructed the militia group to target and rape civilian women.


The role of media in inciting violence

Pillay also served on the ''Prosecutor v Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, Hassan Ngeze'' trial regarding the role the Radio Television Libre des Mille Collins (RTLM) and the Kangura magazine in spreading hate propaganda against the Tutsis. The criminal tribunal found that Ferdinand Nahimana was indicted for the direct and public incitement to commit genocide while working at the radio station RTLM. Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza was also indicted for the direct and public incitement to commit genocide at the RTLM and for his work with the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic. Hassan Ngeze was also charged for the incitement of genocide in relation to his work with Kangura magazine. The case was significant for considering the role media plays in politics and public opinion, and its real life ramifications.


International Criminal Court

Pillay garnered international recognition for her work as a judge on the ICTR and caught the attention of the members of the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice during the late 1990s. Impressed by her work, women's advocates wanted to ensure the protection of women's rights during the establishment of the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
. The Women's Caucus gained enough momentum to attend PrepCom and the Rome Diplomatic Conference where they codified women's rights into the ICC statue, advocating that there be quota for the number of women judges on the bench and the use of "gender" instead of "sex" in the ICC provisions of the Rome Statue. After the establishment of the ICC, Pillay became one of the first judges to ever serve on the court. Pillay was nominated to serve on the International Criminal Court's Appeal Chambers by the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute on 7 February 2003. She was elected to a six-year term that March, but resigned in July 2008, effective 31 August 2008, in order to take up her position with the UN. One of the first cases to appear in the International Criminal Court was ''The Prosecutor v Thomas Lubanga Dyilo'' for enlisting children under 15 years old to the armed militias inciting violence between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups in the
Ituri Ituri Province ( in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the Subdivisions of the DR Congo#New provinces, 2015 repartitioning. Ituri, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, and Tshopo provinces ...
, north-eastern region of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
. While Dyilo was convicted for his war crimes in 2012, Pillay served on the appeals chamber during the pre-trial phase of the case from 2006 to the end of her term in 2008.


High Commissioner for Human Rights

On 24 July 2008,
UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...
nominated Pillay to succeed
Louise Arbour Louise Arbour, (born February 10, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer, prosecutor and jurist. Arbour was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Pr ...
as High Commissioner for Human Rights.John Heilprin (24 July 2008).
South Africa lawyer nominated as UN rights chief
. The
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
The United States reportedly resisted her appointment at first, because of her views on
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
and other issues, but eventually dropped its opposition. At a special meeting on 28 July 2008, the
UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its 79th session, its powers, ...
confirmed the nomination by consensus. Her four-year term began on 1 September 2008. Pillay says the High Commissioner is "the voice of the victim everywhere." In 2012, she was given a two-year second term. She also signed a document "BORN FREE AND EQUAL", a document on
sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...
and
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
in
international human rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...
as High Commissioner. Pillay expressed concern about pressure being placed on private companies to enact a financial blockade against
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in 2010. She said such action was a violation of WikiLeaks' right to freedom of expression. Pillay voiced support for a gay rights resolution in the UNHRC, which was approved in 2011. At a news conference in July 2014, she referred to
Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...
as a "human rights defender" and said, "I am raising right here some very important arguments that could be raised on his behalf so that these criminal proceedings are averted." In August 2014, she criticized the international community over its "paralysis" in dealing with the more than three-year old Syrian Civil War, which by 30 April 2014 had resulted in 191,369 deaths.


International Court of Justice

The composition of the bench of the
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...
varies from case to case, and will choose a judge ''ad hoc'' to serve on the bench if there are no judges representing one or both of the regions the parties are from. For Pillay, the party of Gambia elected her as the judge to represent their region and has been serving on the bench since 2019. Pillay has been serving as a judge ''ad hoc'' on ''The
Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...
v
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
'' since 2019 for crimes of genocide. The case brought by Gambia against Myanmar for violating the Genocide Convention against the ethnic group
Rohingya The Rohingya people (; ; ) are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who predominantly follow Islam from Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Ro ...
. Despite pushback from Myanmar, the court approved Gambia's case as admissible in court and continues to hold hearings. The case is notable in that it involves another country suing another for war crimes in another jurisdiction, which has created a lot of pushback in the international community regarding the ICJ's jurisdiction.


Awards

In 2003, Pillay received the inaugural Gruber Prize for Women's Rights. She has been awarded honorary degrees by *
Durban University of Technology The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is a multi-campus university situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 following the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and it was initially known as the Durban In ...
- based in her hometown of
Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
*
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
, EnglandDurham University (15 May 2007).
Honorary degrees for remarkable achievement
." Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
*
City University of New York School of Law A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
, USA
CUNY The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...
Newswire (25 May 2006).
CUNY Commencement 2006
". Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
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London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
, Rhodes University, South AfricaPaul Walters (1 April 2005)
Citation for honorary doctorate, Rhodes University
. Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
*
Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...
, BelgiumLaudatio KU Leuven
". Retrieved on 1 September 2014.
*
Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...
, NetherlandsMandeville Lecture
. Retrieved on 9 June 2016.
In 2009, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' ranked her as the 64th most powerful woman in the world. In 2009, she received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
presented by Awards Council member Archbishop Desmond Tutu at an awards ceremony at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa.


Controversies


Sri Lanka

Her criticism of the Sri Lankan government being an authoritarian state, in alleging human rights violations and atrocities committed by them against Tamil civilians at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, has led the government and its supporters to apportion her own Tamil descent as the only reason for her criticism, a claim she strongly denies.


Canada

In a speech on 8 June 2012, Pillay blacklisted the provincial government of
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
in Canada for human rights violations concerning the rights to peaceful protest and free expression for its student protesters, specifically in Canada. The bill in question, Bill 78, required that protest groups over 50 must gain approval from authorities at least 8 hours before the planned start of the protest. The reaction from human rights NGOs was mixed. Quebec official sources criticized Pillay for comparing Quebec with areas known to have worse records.


Zimbabwe

Pillay's call in 2012 for the suspension of sanctions against the Robert Mugabe regime in
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
was criticized by civil society groups in the country, which accused the Zimbabwean government of manipulating Pillay into overlooking the human rights violations committed by the government.


Israel-Gaza conflict

Her contribution to the 2001 Durban Conference on racism, the
Goldstone report Goldstone may refer to: Places * Goldstone, Shropshire, a small village in Shropshire, England *Goldstone, California, a ghost town near the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex * Goldstone Lake, a dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bern ...
, and her steering of the
UN Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The ...
have been criticized as unjust by ''
The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...
''. Pillay's claim that Israel was engaged in the "apparent targeting of …children playing", on 23 July 2014, a charge previously denied by IDF spokesmen, has been described by Anne Bayefsky as "incitement to hate". After reviewing the heavy US contribution to the
Iron Dome Iron Dome () is an Israeli mobile all-weather air defense system, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired f ...
program, Pillay called for better defense for Gaza, stating that "no such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling". The'' Tablet'' magazine described this statement as a "hilariously delicious absurdity". On 25 July 2014, the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
published a letter addressed to Pillay by over 100 members in which the signatories asserted that the Human Rights Council "cannot be taken seriously as a human rights organisation" over their handling of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. In July 2022 Pillay defended Miloon Kothari, a member of the
Permanent United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Israel Palestine conflict Following the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted on 27 May 2021 to set up a United Nations fact-finding mission to investigate possible war crimes and other abuses committed in Israel and the Occupied ...
who questioned Israel's right to be a UN member state and alluded to a "Jewish lobby controlling social media," which prompted condemnation by Israel, Britain and United States. Pillay claimed that Kothari's comments were taken out of context. Pillay is now chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, created after the Israel-Gaza clashes of 2021. The U.S. and Europe have been vocal about their disapproval of the establishment of the commission because it has no formal end date, to which she has responded that "the occupation f Israeldoes not have end date either and you tend to support that occupation". Pillay has also claimed that war crimes are being committed both by
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
and Israel in the wake of the terrorist 7 October attacks in 2023. She has additionally denounced Israel's retribution for disproportionately targeting children and has been hesitant to call Israel's actions self-defense. In response, many critics from prominent news sources such as the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs have called her comments anti-semitic.


See also

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First women lawyers around the world This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in each country. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are the first women in their country to achieve a certain distinction su ...
*
List of first women lawyers and judges in Africa This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Africa#Territories and regions, Africa. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are the first women in their country to achiev ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillay, Navanethem People from Durban South African people of Tamil descent South African people of Indian descent International Criminal Court judges South African women's rights activists Harvard Law School alumni Presidents of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights 1941 births Living people South African women judges Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations South African judges of United Nations courts and tribunals South African judges of international courts and tribunals Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany