Who is Navi Pillay? From apartheid-era lawyer to Nobel Peace Prize winner
South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former UN human rights chief and International Criminal Court judge, has won the Nobel Peace Prize after a career spanning apartheid-era legal activism, international justice and human rights advocacy.
Navi Pillay, a revered global rights advocate, was recently honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. The 85-year-old, born in Durban, South Africa in 1941, has had a distinguished career spanning the South African courts, the International Criminal Court, and the International Tribunal for Rwanda. She gained international recognition for her vocal criticism of government repression during Arab Spring uprisings in countries like Libya and Syria.
Pillay's journey began in a poor neighborhood in Durban during the era of white minority rule. She excelled academically, earning degrees from the University of Natal and Harvard. She was the first non-white woman to open a law firm in Durban, where she gained a reputation as a staunch defender of apartheid opponents. In 1973, she secured the right for political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, to have access to lawyers.
After Mandela's presidency in 1994, Pillay became the first woman of color to be appointed to South Africa's high court.
Her commitment to justice led her to serve on the Rwanda tribunal in 1998, where she was instrumental in recognizing rape as an act of genocide. Ten years later, she was appointed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a position she held until 2014. Currently, Pillay serves as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice, presiding over a case examining whether Myanmar's actions against the Rohingya constitute genocide.
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