One of South Africa's leading female jurists who won acclaim defending apartheid opponents was nominated Thursday to serve as the next United Nations high commissioner for human rights. Navanethem Pillay was formally put forward for the job by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who cited her "outstanding credentials in human rights and justice." Pillay, who holds a Harvard Law School degree, serves as an appeals chamber judge with the Dutch-based International Criminal Court, where she has been since 2003. Pillay, who is in her mid-60s, is of Tamil descent.
Her selection now goes to the General Assembly for consideration where she is likely to be approved at a plenary meeting next Monday, U.N. officials and diplomats said. The world body previously elected Pillay as a judge to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1995. She became that court's president in 1999.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, said Pillay will occupy a very important position. "She has to be the voice for human rights, focus on the violations of human rights, speak clearly and focus world attention on the egregious violations of human rights that unfortunately still take place in many places around the world," he said. "We look forward to working with her."
In 1967, Pillay became the first woman to establish a law practice in South Africa's Natal Province, where she defended apartheid opponents. She also became the first woman of color to serve on her country's High Court, whose divisions hear both civil and criminal cases. She also co-founded Equality Now, a New York-based international women's rights organization.
During the selection process some nations, including the United States, had expressed reservations about Pillay, including her support for women's access to abortion, contraception and other reproductive freedoms, and how she might handle next year's follow up to the 2001 U.N. World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, which drew controversy due to anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli stands.
If confirmed to the job, Pillay will take over the fast-growing U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, based in Geneva, Switzerland. During the coming year, the office will have almost 1,000 employees and budget approaching $120 million. She would succeed Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court judge in Canada, who stepped down at the end of June. Pillay won out over two other finalists for the job, Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist Hila Jilani and Argentine human rights lawyer Juan Mendez.