Urmila Bhoola is a South African international human rights lawyer who has worked on

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

, labour rights, women's rights,

child protection Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

, human trafficking, forced labour and ending

modern slavery Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...

in South Africa, Malaysia, Fiji and the Oceanic islands, Nepal and Geneva. She is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of

Slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and has sought to change the perception of governments about what they can do to end modern slavery in their countries. Bhoola has been a judge of the

Labour Court of South Africa The Labour Court is a South African court that handles labour law cases, that is, disputes arising from the relationship between employer, employee and trade union. The court was established by the Labour Relations Act, 1995, and has a status si ...

and was appointed based on her long-standing commitment to human rights and labour rights in South Africa. She relocated to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

with her family in 2013 after becoming disillusioned by the continued inequalities that widened the gap between workers and employers and not being able to change that in her capacity as a judge. As an

anti-apartheid activist The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid, apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by ...

and lawyer who worked with the human rights law firm, Cheadle Thompson and Haysom, she represented many individuals and unions before the Labour Court to claim rights and protection for workers. She worked in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

with Shanthi Dairiam, founder of the International Women's Rights Action Watch for the Asia Pacific. She speaks at various international forums including the

Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

and has presented papers at human rights conferences around the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhoola, Urmila United Nations special rapporteurs Year of birth missing (living people) Living people South African officials of the United Nations