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Navi Pillay: My fight for Human Rights

Matthew Bannister meets the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Navi Pillay grew up in South Africa under apartheid, and became the country's first black woman judge.

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.

We also hear from a disabled British woman who has found a new sense of freedom by going diving in her wheelchair. She told Matthew Bannister how it feels like to explore the bottom of the sea in a specially designed wheelchair.

Then, Mexican artist Pedro Reyes explains how he has managed to turn firearms into an orchestra of fully-workable musical instruments - from flutes to drum kits. His artwork aims to highlight Mexico's drug-related violence and crime.

And, in our 'Witness' segment, Louise Hidalgo talks to a Californian journalist who knew Howard Hughes, an American billionaire who died in April 1976 after years of living in hiding.

Picture: UN human rights chief Navi Pillay during an official visit to Brazil

Available now

55 minutes

Last on

Fri 5 Apr 2013 02:05GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 4 Apr 2013 11:05GMT
  • Thu 4 Apr 2013 21:05GMT
  • Fri 5 Apr 2013 02:05GMT

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