South African judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize 2026, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday, honouring her efforts to promote peace and international law.
Why the committee chose her
The committee said a common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and other apartheid opponents to her later service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time, Reuters reported. PBS quoted the committee as saying that institutions of international law are under political attack, and AFP said committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes credited her with helping ensure that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.
Who Navi Pillay is
Pillay, 85, was born in Durban in 1940 and became the first woman of colour on South Africa’s High Court, Al Jazeera reported. She presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where a 1998 ruling held that rape can be a crime against humanity and a means of committing genocide. She later served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014 and as an International Criminal Court judge, and now sits on the International Court of Justice.
She also chaired a UN commission of inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, whose findings Israel has rejected.
Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize amid pressure on the ICC
Hours after the announcement, the United States imposed new sanctions on the International Criminal Court, AFP reported, and the EU, the UN and several states condemned the move. Israel criticised the award, while the Palestinian foreign ministry welcomed it. Pillay dedicated the prize to survivors of international crimes.
The prize, worth about $1.2 million, will be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. It was the fifth Nobel announced this week, and last year’s Peace Prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
