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Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, a former United Nations high commissioner for human rights and now a judge on the International Court of Justice, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Friday.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, called the South Africa-born Pillay, 85, “one of the great defenders of international legal principles in our time” and said “her commitment to justice and human dignity is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world.”
“A common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time,” the committee said.
Pillay was attending a session on Friday of the Nuremberg Forum, a gathering to discuss international law in Nuremberg, Germany, when she was brought out into a hallway to speak to reporters.
“Firstly, at this venue, your applause means a great deal to me,” she said, referring to the location of the trials of Nazi war criminals that helped lay the foundations of international law.
“Being a judge and a lawyer, I still want to verify,” Pillay said of her honour. She expressed gratitude for being “with friends and colleagues, all of whom support human rights.”
Defends ruling on Israel campaign in Gaza
Pillay is among the ICJ judges hearing a case initiated seven years ago concerning Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya ethnic minority and whether it constitutes a genocide. She told reporters she wanted to see that case through to its conclusion.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh and other countries after the Myanmar military launched a crushing campaign in response to attacks by an insurgent group, one that included accusations of indiscriminate killings and sexual violence.
She was also chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that concluded last year Israel has committed genocide in Gaza in its military response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks led by Hamas militants.
Pillay called Israel’s actions in Gaza “a moral outrage and a legal emergency.” Israel dismissed the report as “scandalous.”
Referring to the reaction to that report on Friday, Pillay said: “You interpret the law, you look at all the facts, so that it’s impartial decision-making.”
Hear why the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize went to Navi Pillay
The chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday spoke of ‘legal pioneer’ Navanethem (Navi) Pillay’s lengthy career, calling the 2026 peace prize winner — a lawyer, judge and human rights expert — ‘one of the most respected international jurists of our time.’International law system under strain, committee says
Pillay’s honour, the committee said, comes at a time of “existential challenges” for international law.
“We see a shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice,” said Frydnes.
Frydnes said the committee had not yet communicated with Pillay regarding her honour, but was eager to do so.
Pillay was born in Durban to parents of Indian Tamil origin. In 1967, she became the first woman to start a law practice in Natal and the first non-white woman to serve on South Africa’s High Court.
South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa congratulated Pillay in a statement from his office, calling it a “profound tribute to the veteran jurist’s courage, integrity and lifelong commitment to justice.”
Pillay has also served on the International Criminal Court in the Hague in the past.
The peace prize is the fifth Nobel awarded this week, after literature, chemistry, physics and medicine. The prize for economics will be awarded on Monday.
WATCH | Pillay reacts in Germany to Friday’s Nobel announcement:
REPLAY | 2026 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Navi Pillay
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the peace prize to Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, citing her ‘efforts to promote peace and international law.’
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the peace prize in 2025. Machado was forced to flee the country after contesting an election against since-ousted autocrat Nicolás Maduro.
“I may share this prize with Trump,” Pillay joked to reporters on Friday, a reference to Machado giving U.S. President Donald Trump her Nobel medal at the White House early this year.
Trump had vocally advocated his own case for a Peace Prize last year, though the Nobel deadline for nominations is the end of January every year, which was just under two weeks after he took office again in 2025.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.7 million Cdn, is due to be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
Past winners have included individuals such as Mandela, Martin Luther King and Malala Yousafzai, as well as bodies and organizations including the World Food Programme and 2024 winner Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese group committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons.