New U.N. rights chief defends appointment

Despite officials' skepticism, former judge says she can be an advocate By MAGGIE FARLEY Los Angeles Times UNITED NATIONS — The new U.N. high commissioner for human rights, South African justice Navanethem Pillay, has spent a lifetime quietly toppling barriers and exceeding expectations. So when human rights groups and some American officials expressed skepticism before her appointment last week, she said she was used to it. As a minority from a poor Indian neighborhood in apartheid-era South Africa, the color 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. But Nelson Mandela, who had come to know her during visits to her clients while he was in Robben Island prison, named her in 1995 as the first woman of color for the... [read full story]