The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her work to promote peace and international law. The announcement of the 125th prize was made on Friday in Oslo.
The committee said Pillay, a former UN high commissioner for human rights, had been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted. Its statement said that at a time of more wars and conflicts than the world has seen in a long time, international law is “an absolute necessity”.
Committee chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes said the system of international law was under tremendous pressure and its institutions under attack. He said judges guard “the thin red line between order and chaos”.
Pillay, 85, is a South African of Indian Tamil origin. In 1967 she became the first woman to start a law practice in what was then the province of Natal. She defended Nelson Mandela, a previous peace prize winner, and other antiapartheid activists, and was the first woman of colour on South Africa’s High Court. She later served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and as the UN’s rights chief.
The committee highlighted her role at the Rwanda tribunal in establishing that rape and sexual violence can constitute crimes against humanity and genocide.
