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Navanethem Pillay

Navanethem Pillay
Navi Pillay June 2014.jpg
Pillay at the 26th session of the Human Rights Council
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
In office
1 September 2008 – 31 August 2014
Nominated by Ban Ki-moon
Deputy Kang Kyung-wha
Flavia Pansieri
Preceded by Louise Arbour
Succeeded by Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad
International Criminal Court judge
In office
11 March 2003 – 31 August 2008
President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
In office
1999–2003
Preceded by Laity Kama
Succeeded by Erik Møse
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda judge
In office
1995–2003
Judge of the High Court of South Africa
In office
1995–1995
Nominated by Nelson Mandela
Personal details
Born (1941-09-23) 23 September 1941 (age 75)
Durban, Natal Province, Union of South Africa
Nationality South African
Spouse(s) Gaby Pillay
Residence Geneva, Switzerland
Alma mater
Profession Jurist

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. A South African of Indian Tamil origin, she was the first non-white woman judge of the High Court of South Africa, and she has also served as a judge of the International Criminal Court and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Her four-year term as High Commissioner for Human Rights began on 1 September 2008 and was extended an additional two years in 2012. She was succeeded in September 2014 by Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad. In April 2015 Pillay became the 16th Commissioner of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty.

Pillay was born in 1941 in a poor neighborhood of Durban, Natal Province, Union of South Africa. She is of Tamil descent and her father was a bus driver. She married Gaby Pillay, a lawyer, in January 1965. She has two daughters.

Supported by her local Indian community with donations, she graduated from the University of Natal with a BA in 1963 and an LLB in 1965. She later attended Harvard Law School, obtaining an LLM in 1982 and a Doctor of Juridical Science degree in 1988. Pillay is the first South African to obtain a doctorate in law from Harvard Law School.


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