South African judge Navanethem Pillay was nominated Thursday to serve as the next United Nations high commissioner for human rights, a high-profile post for pressing nations to improve how they adhere to international rights accords.
She was formally put forward for the job on Thursday by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who cited Pillay's "outstanding credentials in human rights and justice."
Her selection now goes to the General Assembly, where she is likely to be approved at a plenary meeting next Monday, UN officials and diplomats said. The world body previously elected Pillay as a judge to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1995. She became that court's president in 1999.
