JOHANNESBURG: Navanetham Pillay, South Africa’s first non-white woman judge who is of Indian origin, has been conferred upon the highest French civilian honour.
Pillay, 74, was the first non-white woman judge of the high court of South Africa and has also served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which tried leaders of a genocide that left nearly a million people dead.
Pillay, the daughter of a bus driver who qualified against great odds through community support, said she considered it a great honour to have received the Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur (the Legion of Honour).
A former UN high commissioner for human rights, Pillay became the first non-white woman to open her own law practice in Natal Province — where she was born.
French ambassador to South Africa Elisabeth Barbier said the award was a recognition of Pillay’s work for international justice system, human rights and women’s rights.
During her 28 years as a lawyer, Pillay defended anti-apartheid activists and helped expose the use of torture and poor conditions of political detainees.
In 1973, she won the right for political prisoners on Robben Island, including anti-apartheid champion and South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela, to have legal representation.