Diplomacy & Public Service
Peerless
Navi Pillay
born 1941
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the first non-white woman on South Africa's High Court
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the South Africa Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
Twenty-eight years defending anti-apartheid activists and exposing the torture of political detainees. Then Mandela put her on the High Court, and the world put her in charge of human rights.
Navanethem Pillay is a South African jurist of Indian Tamil descent. Across twenty-eight years as a lawyer in South Africa she defended anti-apartheid activists and helped expose the torture and conditions endured by political detainees.
In 1995 Mandela nominated her as the first non-white woman to sit on the High Court of South Africa. She went on to serve as a judge and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a judge of the International Criminal Court, and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
In 1995 Mandela nominated her as the first non-white woman to sit on the High Court of South Africa. She went on to serve as a judge and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a judge of the International Criminal Court, and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
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