The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday 27 June said there had been significant achievements since a historic human rights document was adopted in Vienna 20 years ago, but there have also been many setbacks and “the magnificent construction is still only half built.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Navi Pillay’
Pillay discusses 20 years Vienna
June 27, 2013Visiting Serbia and Kosovo, UN High Commissioner urges political will to solidify human rights and support HRDs
June 21, 2013In June 2013, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visited former Yugoslavia. In both Serbia and Kosovo she mentioned that human rights defenders have a key role to play:
Forced return to North Korea: Laos and China seem not to know the concept of non-refoulement
June 2, 2013Nine North-Korean defectors, aged 15 to 23, entered Laos through China on 9 May 2013 and were caught by Laotian authorities on 16 May. They were sent back home on Tuesday 28 May via China. [Under North Korean law, defectors face a minimum of five years of hard labour and as much as life in prison or the death penalty in cases deemed particularly serious] UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, urged Chinese and Laotian authorities to publicly clarify the fate of the nine defectors and the conditions of their return, which apparently violated international law, UN deputy spokesperson
said. “The High Commissioner’s office is dismayed that the governments of Laos and China appear to have abrogated their non-refoulement obligations, especially given the vulnerability of that group, all of whom are reported to be orphans” The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday in a statement that it is trying to locate the defectors and expressed concern that they did not receive a chance to have their asylum claims assessed.
New complaint mechanism for Protection of social and economic rights finally comes into force
May 13, 2013
Back from a short (Orthodox) holiday I resume my efforts to keep you abreast of developments relevant to Human Rights Defenders. The first item is that the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has finally come into force. It enables people to seek justice through individual complaints when their rights to, for example, food, adequate housing, education or health are violated. “Egregious violations of economic, social and cultural rights are occurring, often unnoticed, on a daily basis, which in the area of civil and political rights would have been immediately condemned. This Protocol will help to address this imbalance,” High Commissioner Navi Pillay said. Read the rest of this entry »
BBC Outlook talks with Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
April 4, 2013
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Under the heading “Navi Pillay: My fight for Human Rights” Matthew Bannister meets the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. A bus driver’s daughter from a poor Indian section of Durban in South Africa, Navi grew up and began her human rights work during the apartheid era and became the first non-white woman to establish her own law practice and to be appointed as a High Court Judge in South Africa. She has become on e of the most remarkable personalities in the worldwide human rights movement.
- BBC World Service Thursday 4 Apr 201321:05 GMT BBC World Service
- BBC World Service Friday 5 Apr 201302:05 GMT BBC World Service
Italian Flavia Pansieri new Deputy UN High Commissioner For Human Rights
March 16, 2013
(Flavia Pansieri with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Flavia Pansieri of Italy as the new Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, it was announced today. Ms. Pansieri will replace Kyung-wha Kang of the Republic of Korea “to whom the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights are grateful for her dedicated service to the United Nations human rights programme during the past six years.” This praise is totally deserved i should add. Most recently, Ms. Pansieri served as the Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteers (UNV) Programme. She brings to her new position nearly 30 years of experience with the UN around the world, including in Yemen, China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos and New York.
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pillay, extended for 2 years
May 16, 2012
High Commissioner for Human Rights Pillay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the South African Mrs Navanethem Pillay, is coming to the end of her 4-year term in December of this year. Credit should go to the normally timid Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who has asked the General Assembly to approve a two-year extension for one of the best and most outspoken High Commissioners to date. On Monday it was announced by the SG that Navi Pillay had agreed to stay on for two more years. This is excellent news for the human rights movement.
Related articles
- 2 more years for UN rights chief (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
17 May wil be again International Day Against Homophobia; UN High Commissioner takes the lead
May 12, 2012On the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia, 17 May, watch a video message from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, who has shown consistently that she is concerned with human rights of all and not afraid to speak out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-_kzl-_mrg (subtitled in English, French, Spanish and Arabic. click on the “CC” button at the bottom of the YouTube viewer)
Related articles
- UN High Commissioner Pillay speaks out against harassment of Sri Lankan HRDs during Council in Geneva (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- Homophobia | Navi Pillay vs Patekile Holomisa (oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com)
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navanethem Pillay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 