Navanethem Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize for work on international law
The South Africa-born judge was recognized for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
OSLO — Navanethem Pillay, a former United Nations human rights chief and judge on the International Court of Justice, won 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."
"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," Frydnes said.
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The committee said a common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others against apartheid to her service as a judge in key international court cases.
Pillay received the news while attending a session of the Nuremberg Forum in Germany.
"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, expressing gratitude for being with colleagues who support human rights.
The award comes at a time of "existential challenges" for international law, the committee said.
"We see a shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice," said Frydnes.
The committee said it wished to issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without violence is dependent on the international rule of law.
Pillay is among the ICJ judges hearing a case concerning Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya ethnic minority and whether it constitutes a genocide.
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.
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."
Her win brings renewed attention to U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing feud with the International Criminal Court.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month, Trump called the court an "out of control institution" and an "anti-American tribunal."
The Nobel Institute said Pillay has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.
"Her independence, expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time," the institute said.
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.
She has also served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court.
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.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the peace prize in 2025.
"I may share this prize with Trump," Pillay joked to reporters on Friday, a reference to Machado giving Trump her Nobel medal at the White House early this year.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth about $1.7 million Cdn, is due to be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10.
With files from The Globe and Mail, CBC News and CityNews