.
Judge Navi Pillay served as the fifth United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008- 2014). Before her appointment as High Commissioner, she served on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and as the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Judge Pillay’s journey started in South Africa where she was a judge on the High Court. One of the most important champions for human rights globally, she has amplified the voice of human rights in the Security Council.
How did your own experience of growing up in apartheid South Africa shape your work as an international jurist?
I am the granddaughter of a man who was brought to South Africa from India to work in the sugar plantations of South Africa. Gandhi called the system of labor, semi slavery. I grew up with a deep hunger for education. My own work as a human rights lawyer was shaped by what I had experienced under apartheid. I could not enter parks or beaches reserved for whites. I attended Natal University and, because the schedule was developed to help white students who were working in law firms, classes were in the early morning and in the night. I often did not have money to take the bus home between classes, so I sat in the library and read the Nuremberg cases.
I became the first woman to start a law practice in Natal mostly because no one would hire me because of my gender, the color of my skin, and my economic status. I was told that white secretaries would not like to take dictation from a black woman. I traveled often to Robben Island to work with Nelson Mandela and represent prisoners of the apartheid regime, including my own husband.
I used many of the challenges to my advantage, I had to learn international humanitarian law so as to defend cases of racial discrimination. In cases under the Terrorism Act, the apartheid regime would detain hundreds and torture them. I tried to raise arguments based on the Torture Convention, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and other human rights treaties. That motivated me to study international law and human rights law.
I was the first woman of color to be appointed an acting judge of the High Court of South Africa. Although Mandela himself called me to make the appointment, the president of the Bar Council came to my court room to observe whether I was competent.
I was asked to stand for election to the first bench of the Rwandan tribunal in Arusha. Despite all the challenges, I felt deeply that an international court could be hosted in Africa.
On the ICTR, in 1995, in a benchmark case against Taba mayor Jean-Paul Akayesu who was tried for inciting Hutus to rape, torture, and murder thousands of Tutsis, you ruled for the first time that sexual violence in conflict was a crime against humanity. You created important new jurisprudence in this area and it is now a precedent for the ICC. Please elaborate on the genesis of this case.
I knew that the public’s eyes were on us. A NGO asked us why out of 21 indictments issued to date, is there no charge of rape? That prompted me to ask for evidence of sexual violence or rape on the bodies of victims. When witnesses gave evidence of sexual violence, in the Akayesu case, I and my fellow judges called for more information.
The Akayesu case recognized for the first time that rape and sexual violence can constitute genocide when they are committed with the intention of destroying a group. The Judgment shone the spotlight on the 200,000 Rwandan women who were sexually abused. As I said then, "Rape had always been regarded as one of the spoils of war. Now it is a war crime, no longer a trophy of war."
How did you go from the depths of apartheid to become the highest ranking official in the United Nations on human rights, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights?
When Nelson Mandela was first indicted in 1962, and appealed to the court on the inherent potential for injustice in an apartheid court, this is what he was told by the magistrate:
“After all is said and done, there is only one court and that is the white man’s court.”
In his first address to parliament, Mandela said, “the memory of a history of division and hate, injustice and suffering inhumanity of person to person should inspire us to celebrate our own demonstration of the capacity of human beings to progress to go forward.”
This is what prompts me to move away from a path of violence and vengeance to a path that values human rights.
My experience as a graduate student at Harvard Law School where I received a Master’s in Law in 1982 and was the first South African to receive a Doctorate in Law in 1988 was transformative. This was an important turning point for me. Not only did I immerse myself in the study of international human rights law, but I met student movements mobilizing against the anti- apartheid movement. This was my first exposure to the international resistance movement and it gave me renewed strength to challenge injustices back home and around the world.
Human Rights Up Front is one of your most important legacies as the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Please explain this new policy:
Whether it is atrocities being perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and ISIL rebel groups, conflicts in Afghanistan, DRC, Congo, South Sudan, Burundi, Libya, Mali, Ukraine, and Yemen, these crisis situations do not erupt without warning. They have built up over the years. Early detection systems are important.
In my address to the Security Council on prevention of conflict, I suggested that the Council take a number of innovative steps to prevent threats to international peace and security. The Rights Up Front action plan adopted by the Secretary General provides a critical map for collective and immediate delivery by all UN agencies for the protection of human rights in crises.
Human rights are central to conflict prevention. Patterns of violence, including sexual abuse provide early warning signs before the escalation of full blown crisis. This truth has never been so clear as it is today.
Photo: Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, briefs journalists on the state of human rights around the globe, at a press conference held at the UN Office in Geneva. In her opening statement, Ms. Pillay asked “all States to devote much more to making human rights a reality”. 30 June 201, Geneva, Switzerland. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
a global affairs media network
Interview with Navi Pillay: Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Navanethem Pillay, United Nations, High Commissionner for Human Rights addresses during the press conference. UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
October 6, 2016
Judge Navi Pillay served as the fifth United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008- 2014). Before her appointment as High Commissioner, she served on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and as the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Judge Pillay’s journey started in South Africa where she was a judge on the High Court. One of the most important champions for human rights globally, she has amplified the voice of human rights in the Security Council.
How did your own experience of growing up in apartheid South Africa shape your work as an international jurist?
I am the granddaughter of a man who was brought to South Africa from India to work in the sugar plantations of South Africa. Gandhi called the system of labor, semi slavery. I grew up with a deep hunger for education. My own work as a human rights lawyer was shaped by what I had experienced under apartheid. I could not enter parks or beaches reserved for whites. I attended Natal University and, because the schedule was developed to help white students who were working in law firms, classes were in the early morning and in the night. I often did not have money to take the bus home between classes, so I sat in the library and read the Nuremberg cases.
I became the first woman to start a law practice in Natal mostly because no one would hire me because of my gender, the color of my skin, and my economic status. I was told that white secretaries would not like to take dictation from a black woman. I traveled often to Robben Island to work with Nelson Mandela and represent prisoners of the apartheid regime, including my own husband.
I used many of the challenges to my advantage, I had to learn international humanitarian law so as to defend cases of racial discrimination. In cases under the Terrorism Act, the apartheid regime would detain hundreds and torture them. I tried to raise arguments based on the Torture Convention, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and other human rights treaties. That motivated me to study international law and human rights law.
I was the first woman of color to be appointed an acting judge of the High Court of South Africa. Although Mandela himself called me to make the appointment, the president of the Bar Council came to my court room to observe whether I was competent.
I was asked to stand for election to the first bench of the Rwandan tribunal in Arusha. Despite all the challenges, I felt deeply that an international court could be hosted in Africa.
On the ICTR, in 1995, in a benchmark case against Taba mayor Jean-Paul Akayesu who was tried for inciting Hutus to rape, torture, and murder thousands of Tutsis, you ruled for the first time that sexual violence in conflict was a crime against humanity. You created important new jurisprudence in this area and it is now a precedent for the ICC. Please elaborate on the genesis of this case.
I knew that the public’s eyes were on us. A NGO asked us why out of 21 indictments issued to date, is there no charge of rape? That prompted me to ask for evidence of sexual violence or rape on the bodies of victims. When witnesses gave evidence of sexual violence, in the Akayesu case, I and my fellow judges called for more information.
The Akayesu case recognized for the first time that rape and sexual violence can constitute genocide when they are committed with the intention of destroying a group. The Judgment shone the spotlight on the 200,000 Rwandan women who were sexually abused. As I said then, "Rape had always been regarded as one of the spoils of war. Now it is a war crime, no longer a trophy of war."
How did you go from the depths of apartheid to become the highest ranking official in the United Nations on human rights, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights?
When Nelson Mandela was first indicted in 1962, and appealed to the court on the inherent potential for injustice in an apartheid court, this is what he was told by the magistrate:
“After all is said and done, there is only one court and that is the white man’s court.”
In his first address to parliament, Mandela said, “the memory of a history of division and hate, injustice and suffering inhumanity of person to person should inspire us to celebrate our own demonstration of the capacity of human beings to progress to go forward.”
This is what prompts me to move away from a path of violence and vengeance to a path that values human rights.
My experience as a graduate student at Harvard Law School where I received a Master’s in Law in 1982 and was the first South African to receive a Doctorate in Law in 1988 was transformative. This was an important turning point for me. Not only did I immerse myself in the study of international human rights law, but I met student movements mobilizing against the anti- apartheid movement. This was my first exposure to the international resistance movement and it gave me renewed strength to challenge injustices back home and around the world.
Human Rights Up Front is one of your most important legacies as the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Please explain this new policy:
Whether it is atrocities being perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and ISIL rebel groups, conflicts in Afghanistan, DRC, Congo, South Sudan, Burundi, Libya, Mali, Ukraine, and Yemen, these crisis situations do not erupt without warning. They have built up over the years. Early detection systems are important.
In my address to the Security Council on prevention of conflict, I suggested that the Council take a number of innovative steps to prevent threats to international peace and security. The Rights Up Front action plan adopted by the Secretary General provides a critical map for collective and immediate delivery by all UN agencies for the protection of human rights in crises.
Human rights are central to conflict prevention. Patterns of violence, including sexual abuse provide early warning signs before the escalation of full blown crisis. This truth has never been so clear as it is today.
Photo: Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, briefs journalists on the state of human rights around the globe, at a press conference held at the UN Office in Geneva. In her opening statement, Ms. Pillay asked “all States to devote much more to making human rights a reality”. 30 June 201, Geneva, Switzerland. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
