Age: 71
Occupation: U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
A skilled jurist and lifelong grassroots activist, Pillay is the person turning up the heat on Syria for war crimes. She has done the same to the Sri Lankan government, which has been trying for two years to avoid being called up before the International Criminal Court — an institution this South African of Tamil descent made relevant as president of the war-crimes tribunal for Rwanda from 1999 to 2003.