Priya Pillai
Dr Priya Pillai is an international lawyer and heads the Asia Justice Coalition secretariat, which is focused on justice and accountability in Asia. With two decades of legal experience, Dr. Pillai has worked in national and international institutions, including the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) headquarters in Geneva. She holds a PhD in international law from the Graduate Institute, Geneva, an LL.M from New York University School of law and her first law degree is from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She is also a contributing editor at the international law blog Opinio Juris. Follow her at @PillaiPriy
Priya was profiled by Rachel Khoo, currently an Assistant Legal Officer at the United Nations. More about Rachel’s work at the end of this profile. Follow her @IAmRachelKhoo
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What pulled you towards international law as a career and what were your first steps?
In general, it was a curiosity about the world and an active imagination, which were really encouraged by my parents when I was young. There were two standout moments during my teenage years in terms of international politics and governance. The first was a small concert to commemorate the life of Steve Biko organized by Amnesty International when I was in high school in New Delhi. I was so moved by it and felt that the world needed to pay more attention to these issues. At the end of the concert, I left whatever little change or pocket money I had into these little envelopes that they left at every seat. It was a miniscule amount, but I felt I had contributed in some small way! The second moment was in 1993, when my dad was in the naval contingent of a peacekeeping mission to Somalia (‘Operation Restore Hope’). It was a particularly stressful few months when he was away, but it was also fascinating reading his letters (no email then!) and hearing about how the mission evolved. Those were defining moments in realizing that international law was what I wanted to focus on and seriously consider in my next steps.
At that point, I saw law as a means or vehicle to engage with some of these issues and wanted to go to law school. I focused on international law from day 1 at the National Law School of India in Bangalore and participated in moot court competitions with international law as a specific subject area, in order to learn and understand it better. Participating in the Philip C. Jessup International law moot court competition in 1999 – and being part of the first Indian team to win the competition – only crystalized my decision and determination to pursue international law as a career.
When I graduated in 2000, there were not that many options to pursue this career path in India. I applied for an internship at the ICTY and was interviewing with law firms in India at the same time. I got the internship but ended up only starting the internship at the Appeals Chamber six months after I was supposed to start, as there were many hurdles related to the visa application process. It took the ICTY having to move heaven and earth (thank you for keeping the faith, ICTY Registry and Appeals Chamber!), the support of my parents and sister, and my law firm salary for me to do the internship in The Hague—it was a whole project, which took a village! It was an insane amount of effort, time, and energy, and I could or should have given up at some point, but my parents and the ICTY were adamant about making it work.
I went back to my job at the law firm after the internship. There was a rule that interns from developing countries would not be offered a position at least for a year after the completion of the internship – incidentally, this was the pre-requisite the ICTY needed to agree to, in order for myself and two other interns from South Africa and Kenya to be allowed to intern at the ICTY! However, exactly 366 days after my internship ended, the ICTY called, asking me to come back to work for them. I recall that when I received the call, I was watching the opening statements of the Milošević trial. I thought the call was a friend playing a bad joke on me! It was a strange way to start my international legal career. At the point that I had returned to the ICTY, I already had about two years of domestic legal experience working at a law firm.
In the past few months, I have been mentoring a high school student who wants to be an international human rights lawyer – and this has been a wonderful reminder of when my interest in international law was sparked, and of my excitement and passion for this area of law.
What are some points of your career that you are most proud of to date?
I will not highlight or pinpoint one aspect or the other in my 21-year career; I would rather think of it as a continuum of hard work and making an impact. There are two main aspects, the first is linking the local and the global. International lawyers tend to focus on the global, international organization sphere, but we need to consider the local and draw international law into local and domestic discussions as well. This has been a consistent feature throughout my career. The second is the conscious effort to work across various siloes – by working in the humanitarian space with the Red Cross; justice and accountability issues at the Asia Justice Coalition and the ICTY; and academic and legal practice. I also tried to bridge some of these siloes by working on my Ph.D., namely gaining expertise in a particular area and making it relevant to domestic jurisdictions. I am proud of the way that I have approached my career.
In terms of specifics, I have tried focusing on local grassroots advocacy and bringing the international legal sphere into domestic jurisdictions. For example, I was part of an initiative advocating for India to sign the Convention Against Torture and raising awareness and legal discussions through a people’s tribunal. It was a nationwide initiative involving testimony by individuals who have survived state and police torture. It was an exercise in humility to hear some of these experiences and realize the value and impact that international legal analysis could have on people on the ground. I also went to Western Slavonia for a two-week mission for the Milošević case and heard from victims and witnesses about what they thought of the ICTY and its approach to justice. These instances gave me a different perspective and still feed into the way that I approach my work.
Recently, in light of the devastating effects of COVID, I felt the need to contribute in some way. When I was approached by the secretariat of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response to work on a paper on treaty law, it was an opportunity to contribute towards solutions in this global crisis. It was hard as we were in the middle of the pandemic, and I also had a full time ‘day job’, but it felt like something I just had to do.
And of course, it goes without saying perhaps, but I am also very proud of the strides that the Asia Justice Coalition has made, and to be involved in this initiative has been a highlight of the last few years for me.
Could you tell us a little more about the Asia Justice Coalition and what you hope to achieve with it?
The Asia Justice Coalition (AJC) started in 2018 with the aim to focus on the atrocities and crimes against the Rohingya by raising international advocacy and legal initiatives. We also wanted to ensure wider coordination between various actors at different levels (international, regional, domestic, grassroots organizations, and organizations working with Rohingya in Myanmar and refugee camps). We partially wanted to use this as a basis to establish AJC as a longer-term initiative working on justice and accountability in Asia. Many of us who are from the region or who have worked in the region for years are aware that there are no regional mechanisms, a lack of appreciation for international law, low rates of ratification of the Rome Statute, and a resistance to using or engaging with these mechanisms.
The Coalition came at the right time, and it is long overdue, but we are here to stay. The multiple levels at which we work: domestic, grassroots, regional, and international are our strength. This is a key part of coalition building and why AJC is successful. It has taken some time, but AJC has picked up steam and we are trying to take initiative on a range of issues considering what is happening in Myanmar. Hopefully we will continue doing the good work that we are doing.
Personally, it is rewarding to see it transform from an idea to something operational. I have had to engage with a large range of issues: legal, political, and administrative. I have also been engaging with multiple stakeholders, trying to bring everyone along while trying to push the agenda. This has given me better leadership skills, an opportunity to grow, and it has allowed me to take initiative given that AJC is nascent and new.
What are some challenges that you have had in your career and how have you tackled them?
There are barriers that you face for intersecting reasons; gender, race, geography, and location all come into play. Unfortunately, sometimes there are automatic assumptions made about you and your abilities, and there is a need to constantly prove yourself. That is particularly true early on but that does not diminish over time. In addition, you will likely confront instances of sexism and racism, and this is something I have experienced in my career. As your career evolves, it will also manifest in different ways. This is the unfortunate reality of the international legal ecosystem, and you have to figure out how to navigate, approach, and deal with these challenges in a way that works best for you.
One of the biggest set of challenges is the existence of siloes and people constantly wanting to put you in a box. One example would be the time period after my Ph.D., which was a strange and really hard phase. Despite having over 10 years of legal experience, the assumption was that I was too academic – despite my being clear that the reason I did the Ph.D. was not as an entry point into academia but to bring additional rigour and a deeper theoretical understanding into my work. My takeaway then: Do what is in your control. The only thing I had in my control at that time was my ability to write, research, and ‘translate’ international law for diverse audiences— that is what I did. There will be rejections but what matters is how you face these challenges, your skills and what you bring to the table, and your strengths and how you capitalize on them. There are many challenges but the approach and attitude that you take towards these challenges can make the difference between whether it becomes a learning moment that you can build on, or not.
Do you have advice for people, particularly women, embarking on public international law/human rights?
In general, there is a disconnect between the local and international—but this dichotomy is not insurmountable. You can make an impact by working international legal issues and developments into domestic spaces. Do domestic human rights work; work with NGOs and civil society, especially if you are building a career in international law. It is useful and valuable because it informs your thinking and your approach to international law and how we view the ‘top-down’ nature of international law. For example, there are limited opportunities to work in international law in the Global South because the discourse around international law is not formalized in policy circles and people are not fluent in this discourse. You can bridge that gap by working in spaces where people are not comfortable with international law and incorporating aspects of international law into your work. This can then open pathways in the international sphere, and the domestic.
I have given advice to lawyers working on domestic human rights cases who wanted to incorporate international legal arguments to strengthen their case, even if the appreciation of international law is low in their jurisdictions. It is crucial and critical that we keep on chipping away, making these arguments, and incorporating them into the work that we do. It can be a long hard slog and it sometimes seems thankless, but this is one of the ways that we need to view and engage with international law.
Taking a look back at my two decades, it has not been a linear trajectory compared to some of my classmates who pursued a career in commercial law, for example. This can be hard and stressful, and I have had many difficult moments over the years in my career. At the basic level, to overcome this you have to be very passionate and committed about what you want to do and how you see yourself doing it. You have to stay the course, and this is easier said than done. There is also no substitute for hard work. Some things depend on timing or luck, but none of that makes a difference if you do not put in the work. At the end of the day, that is something that people do recognize and give you credit for. People are willing to give you a chance when they know that you are committed, passionate, and hard working.
Seize opportunities even if it is something small. Do not look at things only from a career trajectory viewpoint; follow your heart. If there is a case you are interested in or if someone reaches out to you for help and you feel strongly about it, it is worth going the extra mile and doing what you can. Look at whether it is an area you have expertise in and whether you can help; if it ticks those boxes then do it without calculating the cost-benefit analysis for your career. This will help you develop your skills and in becoming a better international lawyer, and hopefully it also makes a difference along the way. Following your heart is not advice for everyone, as not all work in this way, but I certainly do. It has also given me back a lot, in terms of satisfaction and the feeling of making a difference.
Teamwork is key. I see it in the broader sense between organizations and also personally, the places where I have been most successful and enjoyed my work most was where I was part of a fantastic team. For example, I took an in-house lawyer position with the Red Cross even though I never saw myself as an in-house lawyer. At the time, I was not sure what I wanted but it felt like a great opportunity. I ended up working there for 4 years and I loved it because it was one of the best working environments. I flourished and a large part of it boiled down to having a small, fantastic, and supportive team. That was an ethos that we should incorporate more into our work spaces. At the end of the day, there is only so much that one individual can do, and this is a critical factor we need to consider. People do not talk or focus on this enough. Bottom line: teamwork and camaraderie are how you get the best results.
And finally, some advice specific to women and in particular, those from under-represented parts of the world, who mostly have been ‘invisible’ or made invisible in the international legal sphere – we do exist nonetheless, and just being present and continuing to move forward takes willpower and tenacity – and you must keep at it. Put yourself out there, harnessing your skills such as writing, and don’t be reticent about your interests and abilities. Opportunities may not come your way easily, but the “keep on keeping on” philosophy will help create conditions for your success (yes, even with the variables of luck and timing). Collaborate, reach out to others for help, be curious and open, and seize even the small opportunities along the way – incrementally, and layer by layer, all the seemingly varied experiences will start adding up, in time. Also, be patient. And lastly, don’t let anyone else dictate your worth and your abilities – believe in yourself, as this is critical to get you through the tougher times which will invariably come to pass in this journey. And know that there are many of us rooting for you!
Priya was profiled by Rachel Khoo. Rachel is Assistant Legal Officer at the United Nations. Previously, she was a consultant at the Asia Justice Coalition and undertook various other consultancies and internships at the International Criminal Court, IRMCT, and the Seychelles Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC). Rachel holds a LL.M. from the University of Groningen. Rachel enjoys vegan baking and diving when time permits. @IAmRachelKhoo.