High Commissioner Navi Pillay Takes Office

“I am very happy to take up my office here in Geneva and it is a big change from my previous position as a judge. But I think that my judicial experience qualifies me to be impartial and independent, and to be outspoken but to always base myself on factual information,” the new High Commissioner said on her first day in office.

“I also come with my heart for victims all over the world because I suffered as a victim under apartheid in South Africa,” added High Commissioner Navi Pillay in her brief encounter with the press on Monday.

The new High Commissioner also met with her staff at the Geneva headquarters of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in which she said that she would be “strong and independent” with the great support of the Secretary-General.

Appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in July by the General Assembly, Ms. Pillay became the fifth High Commissioner for Human Rights since the office was created in 1993. She takes over a growing organization that now has 1,000 staff working in 50 countries with a total annual budget of some US$ 150 million.

August 2008