South African Named U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights

UNITED NATIONS, July 24 -- South African judge Navanethem Pillay was named Thursday as the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, culminating a remarkable ascent for a lawyer who was once barred from entering a judge's chamber during South Africa's apartheid era because of the color of her skin.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon nominated the Harvard-educated Pillay, 57, to serve a five-year term as the top U.N. advocate for human rights. She will replace Louise Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court justice, once her nomination is confirmed Monday by the General Assembly.

Pillay's appointment comes as the United Nations has been increasingly criticized for its role in human rights. The Geneva-based Human Rights Council has shown little interest in speaking out forcefully against rights abuses in such places as Zimbabwe, Belarus and Burma. The Bush administration has refused to join the council and has criticized its member governments for scrutiny of Israel's human rights record.

Pillay, a bus driver's daughter of Indian descent, in 1967 became the first woman to set up a law practice in Natal province, defending opponents of the apartheid regime. She was appointed a judge on South Africa's high court in 1995.

She went on to help set up the U.N. war crimes court for Rwanda, where she carried out groundbreaking work on developing a legal basis for prosecuting rape and hate propaganda as war crimes. She has been a judge at the International Criminal Court since 2003.

The Bush administration and rights groups have raised questions about her allegedly thin record of speaking out on human rights abuses. U.S. officials also questioned the U.N. secretary general about rumors that Pillay had promoted an international right to abortion and that she was not accessible to advocacy and civil society groups.

"We didn't find substance to the allegations," Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said to reporters Thursday. "We wish her well," he added.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said that Pillay has an "admirable" résumé but that she must show the "courage to stand up to powerful governments. . . . Her first challenge is going to be taking on her own president on Zimbabwe."

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who endorsed Pillay, has been reluctant to criticize abusive governments, particularly Zimbabwe's. But South Africa's U.N. envoy, Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, said Pillay would not serve her government's interests in her new job. "She's a highly independent lady," he said.