Maggie Farley; 26/7/08
The colour of Navanethem Pillay’s skin stopped her becoming a judge in apartheid South Africa. The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, South African judge Navanethem Pillay, has spent a lifetime quietly toppling barriers and exceeding expectations. So when human rights groups and some American officials expressed scepticism before her appointment on Thursday, she said she was used to it. As someone from a poor Indian neighbourhood in apartheid-era South Africa, the colour of her skin long kept her from becoming a judge. For years, even though she was a lawyer, she could not even sign a contract without her husband’s consent.
Tags: Human Rights, UN, Womens Rights