Navi Pillay

Navanethem Pillay
Pillay at the 26th session of the Human Rights Council, 2014
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
In office
1 September 2008 – 31 August 2014
Nominated byBan Ki-moon
DeputyKang Kyung-wha
Flavia Pansieri
Preceded byLouise Arbour
Succeeded byPrince Zeid bin Ra'ad
Judge of the International Criminal Court
In office
11 March 2003 – 31 August 2008
Nominated bySouth Africa
Appointed byAssembly of States Parties
President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
In office
1999–2003
Preceded byLaity Kama
Succeeded byErik Møse
Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
In office
1995–2003
Judge of the High Court of South Africa
In office
1995–1995
Nominated byNelson Mandela
Personal details
Born (1941-09-23) 23 September 1941 (age 83)
Durban, Natal Province, Union of South Africa
SpouseGaby Pillay
Residence(s)Geneva, Switzerland
Alma mater
ProfessionJurist

Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (born 23 September 1941) is a South African jurist who served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.[1] A South African of Indian Tamil origin, Pillay was the first non-white woman judge of the High Court of South Africa.[2] She has also served as a judge of the International Criminal Court and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.[2] Her four-year term as High Commissioner for Human Rights began on 1 September 2008[1] and was extended an additional two years in 2012.[3] In September 2014 Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad succeeded her in her position as High Commissioner for Human Rights.[4] In April 2015, Pillay became the 16th Commissioner of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty.[5] She is also one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by Reporters Without Borders.[6]

Pillay was born and raised in Durban, South Africa where she later attended the University of Natal, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in 1963 and her Bachelor of Law in 1965.[7] After university, Pillay pursued a career as an attorney and served under criminal defense attorney N.T. Naicker, joining the legal defense against apartheid.[7] In 1967, Pillay started her own law firm and became the first woman to do so in her home province of Natal.[7] In 1981, Pillay applied to and attended Harvard University under the foreign exchange Harvard-South Africa Scholarship Program[7] and earned her Master of Law.[3] In 1988, she completed her thesis and graduated from Harvard Law School with a Doctorate of Jurisprudence.[8]

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.[9] 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.[9] Between 1999 and 2003, Pillay served on the ICTR [1] and was elected President Judge.[7] 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.[10] In 2008, the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon[11] appointed Pillay and the General Assembly of the U.N. approved her position as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.[11]

She is currently serving as an ad hoc judge of the International Court of Justice on The Gambia v Myanmar.[12] 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 Democratic People's Republic of Korea.[12]

  1. ^ a b c Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008). "Navanethem Pillay confirmed as new High Commissioner for Human Rights". Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
  2. ^ a b Reuters (28 July 2008). "FACTBOX-South Africa's Pillay is new human rights chief". Retrieved on 30 July 2008.
  3. ^ a b Navanethem Pillay
  4. ^ "Past High Commissioners". United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Navanethem Pillay new ICDP Commissioner | International Commission against the Death Penalty". www.icomdp.org. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  6. ^ "Navi Pillay | Reporters without borders". 9 September 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e Heyns, Christof (2012). ""Interview with Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights"". South African Yearbook of International Law. 37: 9–21 – via HeinOnline.
  8. ^ Naidu, Sam (25 July 2013). "Navi Pillay: Realising Human Rights for All". Google Books: Quercus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-909807-27-3.
  9. ^ a b Andrews, Penelope (1 July 2006). "The South African Judicial Appointments Process". Osgoode Hall Law Journal. 44 (3): 565–572. doi:10.60082/2817-5069.1288. ISSN 2817-5069. S2CID 147439191.
  10. ^ "Judge Navanethem Pillay". International Criminal Court. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights". 10 August 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  12. ^ a b ""Commissioners of the COI"". United Nations Human Rights Council. 1 November 2023.