South African named as U.N. rights head despite U.S. doubts

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday named South African judge Navanethem Pillay as the world body's new human rights chief, despite initial U.S. concerns about her background.

Pillay, who would succeed outspoken Canadian Louise Arbour, is a judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. U.N. diplomats and officials said the United States initially resisted the idea of appointing her due to concerns about her views on abortion and other issues but eventually agreed to drop its opposition.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expected that Pillay "will preserve the independence of her office and will maintain effective working relations with the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council."

Montas said the U.N. General Assembly would meet on Monday to discuss the confirmation of Pillay's appointment to one of the highest-profile and most controversial U.N. jobs. Diplomats and U.N. officials said a rejection was extremely unlikely.

Arbour, a Canadian, said in March she would not seek a second four-year term as the Geneva-based U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights after her term expired in June.

In an interview with Reuters, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad congratulated Pillay on her new job.

"It's a very important job," he told Reuters. "We need a strong voice, we need a credible voice to speak on the issue of human rights issues, one of the key missions of the United Nations and we look forward to working with her."

Khalilzad denied that Washington had formally opposed Pillay, while acknowledging there were allegations about her background the United States had wanted investigated.

"We didn't find substance in the allegations," he said.

South Africa's U.N. ambassador, Dumsani Kumalo, also welcomed the appointment, while rejecting what diplomats said was another concern raised by Washington -- that Pillay might be too close to South Africa's government, which has annoyed Washington with its stance on Zimbabwe, Iran and other issues.

"She's never worked for the South African government," he told reporters. "She's a highly independent lady."

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Diplomats said some human rights groups had expressed concern that Pillay might not be as outspoken as Arbour.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said it was important the Harvard University-educated Pillay uses the "bully pulpit" as the human rights chief.

"If she resorts to quiet diplomacy, she'll be fighting with one hand tied behind her back," he said, adding Pillay would have "to ensure that her office addresses even powerful governments," including the United States and South Africa.