Rajsoomer Lallah

Rajsoomer Lallah (September 1933 – 3 June 2012) was a Mauritian lawyer and judge who played a leading role in International Human Rights cases.

Career

Lallah was made a Deputy to the Electoral Commissioner during the period leading up to independence of Mauritius in 1968. He was responsible for registering electors, drafting electoral regulations and administering the pre-independence general elections. Between 1970 and 1975 Lallah was a Special Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat and provided legal advice to Commonwealth Governments on resource development, taxation, negotiation with multinational companies, independence negotiations and establishing constitutions. Lallah became a Queen's Counsel in 1976 and was Assistant Solicitor General in Mauritius from 1976 to 1978. He was Parliamentary Counsel from 1978 to 1980. He was Pro Chancellor and Chairman of the Council of the University of Mauritius from 1977 to 1980. He was vice-chairman until 1978, Rapporteur from 1978 to 1982 and chairman from 1989 to 1991. He served on the commission to set up the human rights machinery for the Commonwealth and on the International Commission of Jurists based in Geneva. He was involved in United Nations assessments related to human rights in Chile (1983–1984), industrial complaints in Nigeria (1990) and the genocide in Cambodia (1998).

After the resignation of Yozo Yokota, Lallah served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar from June 1996 to November 2000. He reported his findings to the Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations General Assembly. On 26 October 2000 Lallah reported to the UN General Assembly that the Myanmar government continued to "privilege the repression of all political activity over the engagement in a genuine political dialogue". He said the military regime had ignored all UN resolutions and had made no progress in improving human rights over the past four years. Lallah resigned from the position of UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma on 2 November 2000 due to lack of support from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.