Pillay, 74, was the first non-white woman judge of the High Court of South Africa and has also served as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which tried leaders of a genocide that left nearly a million people dead.
Pillay, the daughter of a bus driver who qualified against great odds through community support, said she considered it a great honour to have received the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur (the Legion of Honour).
A former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pillay became the first non-white woman to open her own law practice in Natal Province - where she was born.
During her 28 years as a lawyer, Pillay defended anti-Apartheid activists and helped expose the use of torture and poor conditions of political detainees.
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In 1973, she won the right for political prisoners on Robben Island, including anti-Apartheid champion and South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela, to have legal representation.
Other renowned South Africans who have received the award include Mandela, his fellow prisoner Ahmed Kathrada, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, writer Andre Brink and unionist-turned-politician Jay Naidoo.
She co-founded Equality Now, an international women's rights organisation, in South Africa and has been involved with other organisations working on issues relating to children, detainees, victims of torture and of domestic violence, and a range of economic, social and cultural rights.
She holds a Master of Law and a Doctorate of Juridical Science from Harvard University.