UN General Assembly confirms South African as new UN human rights chief
- South Africa
- 07/29/2008
The 192-member UN General Assembly Monday unanimously voted to approve South African judge Navanethem Pillay as the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, replacing departing commissioner Louise Arbour. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced lat Thursday that he was appointing Pillay to the post. UN critics and rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), have stressed the need for the new high commissioner to continue Arbour’s aggressive stance on human rights issues. Pillay is scheduled to begin her four-year term on September 1.
Pillay, a former judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and a current appeals chamber judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC), began her legal career in 1967 when she became the first woman to open a law practice in the Natal province of South Africa. Initially known for her work defending anti-apartheid activists, she successfully fought to guarantee the legal representation rights of South African political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela. In 1995, she became the first woman of Southeast Asian descent appointed to the South African Supreme Court.
