South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the fifth South African to win it.
Making the announcement on Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Pillay for her decades-long efforts to prosecute genocide and war crimes, which have been marked by “judicial rigour, personal integrity and considerable courage”.
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From defending activists in apartheid-era South Africa, to more recently overseeing a United Nations inquiry which declared Israel responsible for genocide in Gaza, the 85-year-old, who is also a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has specialised in international law for decades.
Here’s what we know about her life and why she has been awarded the world’s top peace prize:
Who is Pillay?
Navanethem Pillay, known as Navi Pillay, was born in the racially segregated city of Durban in South Africa’s Natal province in 1940 to parents of Tamil descent.
After earning a law degree from the University of Natal, she became the first woman in Natal province to start her own law firm. Early in her career, she helped defend numerous anti-apartheid activists in the country.
She later became the first woman of colour to sit on the High Court of South Africa. She went on to preside over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which prosecuted those charged with humanitarian crimes during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Pillay was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) from 2008 to 2014. More recently she chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory which determined last year that Israel is responsible for carrying out genocide in Gaza.
Currently, Pillay is a judge on the International Court of Justice, acting in a case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
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What work is she best known for?
Pillay has spent much of her life advocating for human rights in her home South Africa and abroad. While studying, she took part in boycotts and marches against apartheid. She later joined the legal defence of some of the country’s most prominent anti-apartheid figures, such as Phyllis Naidoo and Strini Moodley.
In 1973, Pillay took on a case that helped secure basic rights, including legal access, for political prisoners on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was jailed.
In a 2016 interview with the Diplomatic Courier, Pillay said her early human rights work was “shaped by what (she) had experienced under apartheid”.
“I used many of the challenges to my advantage, I had to learn international humanitarian law so as to defend cases of racial discrimination,” she said.
Pillay oversaw a UN commission of inquiry which concluded in 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
In a statement on the report, Pillay urged UN member states to do everything they can to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and to “ensure justice and accountability for all victims”.
What has she been awarded the Nobel Prize for?
The Nobel committee said Pillay was being honoured for her “efforts to promote peace and international law”.
It called her one of “the great defenders of international legal principles in our time”, having helped hold states and national leaders to account and bring “hope to victims of violence and conflict”.
The committee stressed the role Pillay played in the Rwandan genocide tribunal, saying her influence helped establish “that rape and sexual violence could constitute a crime against humanity – as well as genocide”.
“In the same case, Ms Pillay was instrumental in a separate legal breakthrough: for the first time, a defendant faced charges of incitement to commit genocide purely on the basis of spreading propaganda,” said the committee.
Why is her win so significant?
The committee said honouring Pillay is especially important at a time when international law “is under tremendous pressure and its institutions are under attack”.
That message was echoed by rights advocates and international officials.
The UN’s rights chief, Volker Turk, said her award was “a recognition, a reaffirmation that human rights, the rule of law and justice and accountability are fundamental to everything, to peace, to security and prosperity”.
International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane said the award carried special significance “at a time of profound challenges to the international legal order and the rule of law”.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa praised the award as a tribute to Pillay’s “courage, integrity and lifelong commitment to justice”.
Haakon Gjerlow, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said it “sends a clear message that peace depends not only on political leadership, but on strong, credible international institutions and the courageous people who dedicate their lives to defending them .”
Ashok Swain, a professor of peace and conflict research at Uppsala University, told Al Jazeera that the selection of Pillay was a “pleasant surprise” and the “best possible choice”.
He said the Nobel committee likely took into consideration Pillay’s lifelong record fighting genocide and apartheid. He added that the award to the South African jurist could also be read as a message to United States President Donald Trump, who has long argued that he is deserving of the peace prize and whose administration has clashed with South Africa over debunked claims that white Afrikaners are facing “genocide”.
Furthermore, last year, the Trump administration issued sanctions against members of the ICC in what many critics saw as an attack on the system of international law.
The ICC had previously issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC responded by describing the US sanctions as a “flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution” and the victims of war crimes around the world. It said it would continue its work “without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat”.
How has Pillay responded?
Pillay appeared to learn of the award as media reports circulated, telling a group of supporters applauding her: “I don’t know about this. So my question is: Is it true?”
She also jokingly referenced Trump, saying, “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.”
Once the news was confirmed, Pillay said she would dedicate the award to “all of the survivors of international crimes”.
“This award strengthens my conviction that we must stand together in defence of the rule of law, in defence of independent courts and an international legal order based on principle.”
Earlier, the Nobel committee said it had struggled to get in touch with Pillay to notify her. “If you see a Norwegian number calling, please pick up,” said committee chair, Jorgen Watne Frydnes.
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