Nobel Committee Cites Her Efforts to Promote Peace and International Law.
On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to South African Navi Pillay “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” and highlighted her career fighting impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
RELATED:
Swedish Academy Awards Nobel Prize in Literature to Canadian Poet Anne Carson
“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 goes to a person who with exceptional courage and integrity has led the way towards a more comprehensive global legal order. This year’s laureate Navi Pillay has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted,” the committee pointed out.
The 85-year-old jurist was one of the first judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was created in 2002 to prosecute those most responsible for the gravest international crimes when national courts cannot or will not do so.
On Friday, ICC President Tomoko Akane congratulated Pillay on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and said the award represents a “recognition” of the role of international justice as a “cornerstone of lasting peace,” at a “moment of profound challenges.”
Akane, sanctioned by the U.S. as part of Washington’s offensive against the court for issuing an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stressed that the prize awarded to Pillay is “an important recognition of the vital role that international justice plays as a cornerstone of lasting peace.”
A truly deserving and worthy choice for the Nobel Peace Prize! Congratulations to Navi Pillay on her lifelong commitment to human rights, justice, accountability, and human dignity.
And yes, what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. 🇵🇸✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/f0yDzbuqM9
— M. Ata (@mataalsid) October 9, 2026
Pillay served at the Hague court from 2003 until August 2008, when she left the post to become United Nations high commissioner for human rights.
Earlier, between 1995 and 2003, Pillay had been a judge for eight years at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, four of them as president, with an important part of her career focused on the prosecution of sexual violence in armed conflicts.
During apartheid, the current Nobel Peace Prize laureate was a renowned lawyer who defended opponents of the South African regime.
“At a time of profound challenges for the international legal order and the rule of law, this recognition takes on special relevance,” Akane said.
The ICC itself is going through one of the stages of greatest political pressure since its creation, and is seeing its authority and its capacity to enforce its decisions questioned in different parts of the world.
The United States, which does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction, has imposed financial sanctions and travel restrictions on several of its judges and prosecutors over investigations and decisions related to Afghanistan and to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
Pillay has also served as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest court. The Nobel Committee itself presented the South African jurist as a figure who has contributed for decades to “consolidating” international law.
Amazing moment.
Navi Pillay has received the Nobel Peace Prize ! https://t.co/HL3r1PJzLO
We are at the Nuremberg Court; I cannot think of a stronger symbol for her Nobel prize.
We are all so thrilled!
This is her first reactions upon hearing the news: pic.twitter.com/Crbj6XdiyQ
— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) October 9, 2026
UN Commissioner Türk Highlights Pillay’s Contributions
On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, congratulated his predecessor in the post, Navi Pillay, on the Nobel Peace Prize, which comes at a crucial moment for the defense of fundamental freedoms.
“The prize is particularly important at a time when human rights are being attacked from many fronts, also by those who wield immense power,” he said.
“We are seeing attacks against the human rights framework, against the Council, against my office, the special rapporteurs and the International Criminal Court. They have become a kind of fashion,” Türk lamented, and insisted that the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Pillay “is a collective victory for human rights and accountability.”
Türk considered the award a recognition of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which he has headed since 2022 and which Pillay led between 2008 and 2014.
“If one walks through this building today, one breathes emotion, happiness and immense joy because one of our own has received the Nobel Peace Prize,” he said.
Türk recalled that Pillay “dedicated her life to the fight against apartheid and for feminism,” and later developed an important international career as a jurist.
“She has defended the rule of law, she highlighted international law and showed the world the importance of respecting it,” he stressed.
“She represents international law in its highest expression… Navi, you continue to inspire us and millions of people around the world, and we will prevail,” the UN high commissioner concluded.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.