Navanethem Pillay
| Navanethem Pillay | |
|---|---|
Pillay at the 26th session of the Human Rights Council
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| United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights | |
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In office 1 September 2008 – 31 August 2014 |
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| 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 | |
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In office 11 March 2003 – 31 August 2008 |
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| President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda | |
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In office 1999–2003 |
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| Preceded by | Laity Kama |
| Succeeded by | Erik Møse |
| International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda judge | |
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In office 1995–2003 |
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| Judge of the High Court of South Africa | |
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In office 1995–1995 |
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| Nominated by | Nelson Mandela |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
23 September 1941 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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