Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for international justice work

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay for her decades-long work prosecuting war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

But as the world celebrated the announcement on Friday, the committee's chair admitted they had not yet been able to contact the 85-year-old laureate to give her the news directly.

Instead, Pillay learned of her win while in Nuremberg, Germany. Reacting to the sudden applause from an audience, she made a lighthearted joke about US President Donald Trump’s well-known obsession with the award.

"If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump," Pillay said.

The quip carries some recent history. In January 2026, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, visited the White House and handed her physical medal to Trump. While Trump welcomed the gesture and the White House declared he deserved the prize "many times over", the Norwegian Nobel Institute was forced to clarify that the actual title of laureate cannot be shared or transferred.

Beyond the jokes, Pillay's win was met with widespread acclaim from international legal bodies. Tomoko Akane, the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) where Pillay once served as a judge, welcomed the award.

"This is an important recognition of the vital role that international justice plays as a cornerstone of lasting peace," Akane said. She added that the honour is particularly significant at a time of "profound challenges to the international legal order and the rule of law."

Who is Navi Pillay?

Pillay's career has been defined by pioneering firsts. Born in Durban in 1941 to a Tamil bus driver's family, she grew up under the restrictions of apartheid. After studying at the University of Natal and Harvard University, she became the first non-white woman to open a law practice in Durban.

In 1973, she successfully exposed herself to considerable professional risk by securing legal counsel for political prisoners on Robben Island, including Nelson Mandela.

Following the end of apartheid, Mandela appointed Pillay as the first woman of colour on South Africa's High Court in 1995. He then nominated her to serve on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. There, she was part of a historic three-judge panel that ruled in 1998 that rape and sexual violence could constitute acts of genocide.

Why did Navi Pillay win the Nobel Peace Prize?

The Nobel Committee recognised Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law by ensuring that major international crimes do not go unpunished.

Her career spans some of the most significant human rights roles in the world. After her time in Rwanda, Pillay served as a judge at the ICC and later as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, where she became a sharp critic of state repression.

More recently, she chaired a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2025, she drew intense criticism from Israel after her commission concluded that genocide was taking place in Gaza. She is currently serving as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where Myanmar faces allegations of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention in its treatment of the Rohingya minority.

The Nobel Committee said Pillay’s selection was a reminder of the power of international law at a time when power politics threatens to undermine global legal institutions.

Pillay succeeds the 2025 winner, Maria Corina Machado, and the 2024 winner, the Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group Nihon Hidankyo.