The Human Rights Council will hold its ninth regular session from 8 to 26 September at the Palais des Nations to discuss issues relating to the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. The Council will also consider human rights situations that require its attention, including follow-up to its special sessions on Darfur, Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza and on the global food crisis.

At the beginning of the session, the Council will hear its first update from the newly appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, whose four-year term started on 1 September 2008.

Navanethem Pillay, known as Navi, is a South African of Tamil Indian descent. She was the first South African to receive an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School, studying human rights and international law to fight unjust laws at home. During 28 years as a "colored" lawyer, she had not been allowed to set foot in a judge's chambers during 'apartheid' era. She defended and represented liberationists and activists in South Africa.  She was the first non-white woman on the High Court of South Africa, and she has also served as a judge of the International Criminal Court and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Her four-year term as High Commissioner for Human Rights began on 1 September 2008. During the selection process, the US raised some reservations about her outspoken views on issues, including women's abortion rights. But UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says Navi Pillay has outstanding credentials for taking over the rapidly growing UN Human Rights Commission, which from humble beginnings now has a 1,000-strong staff based in Geneva and a budget of $120m.

BHUBANESWAR (ICNS): A group of human right activists who visited Orissa was denied permission to visit the interior villages, where reports say fanatic violence continue unabated. The team included  NCHRO President  Justice H. Suresh, Activist Swami Agnivesh, Meenakshi Ganguly of Asia Division, Human Rights Watch, Shabnam Hashmi, member of National Integration Council, Ministry of Home Affairs,. Vincent Manoharan, Prakash Louis of Patna, Vimal Thorat Manas, Jena and a few other human rights activists.

Ajit Sahi, a journalist with the weekly Tehelka, recently created a storm with his investigation of cases of scores of innocent Muslims languishing in jails falsely accused by the police of being members of the outlawed Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and of being behind a string of bomb blasts and other terror acts across India. In a series of articles recently published in Tehelka he has exposed the lies of the police and argues that this is part of a premeditated campaign to wrongly implicate and harass Muslim youths and demonise the Muslim community. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his investigations and startling revelations.