FACTBOX-South Africa's Pillay is new human rights chief
01 Sep 2008 15:30:10 GMT Source: Reuters
Sept 1 (Reuters) - South African judge Navanethem Pillay became the United Nations' new human rights chief on Monday. Pillay, who succeeded outspoken Canadian Louise Arbour, is a former judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Here are some facts about Pillay: * Pillay, born in a poor Indian neighbourhood of Durban in 1941, is a lawyer from South Africa's ethnic Tamil minority. * The daughter of a bus driver, she became a lawyer and represented many opponents of the apartheid regime. * U.N. diplomats and officials said the United States initially resisted appointing her due to concerns about her views on abortion among other issues but eventually dropped its opposition. * Pillay studied at Natal University and Harvard. She opened her law practice in 1967, the first woman to do so in Natal Province. * In 1995 she was appointed acting judge of the High Court of South Africa by the government of Nelson Mandela, the first non-white woman and first attorney to serve on the Bench. * Pillay was elected by the United Nations to be a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she served for eight years, including four years as president. * In February 2003, Pillay was elected to be one of the 18 Judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague and served on its Appeals Chamber. Sources: Reuters/ICC
A cartoon poster of U.S. President George W. Bush is seen beside a vehicle of India communist activists during an "anti-imperialism" protest rally in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata September ...
International Humanitarian Law
