Former International Criminal Court judge Navi Pillay, who chaired a United Nations inquiry that concluded Israel committed genocide in Gaza, won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award to the 85-year-old South African jurist, citing her long career holding governments and national leaders accountable and defending victims of violence and conflict.
The committee said the award highlighted the importance of preserving an international order based on law as global institutions face mounting pressure.
“The system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack,” the committee said in its citation, warning that a shift towards power politics was undermining legal frameworks and respect for justice.
Born in Durban, South Africa, to a family of Indian Tamil origin, Pillay has served as a judge at several international courts, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She also served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
From Apartheid-Era Legal Work to International Justice
Pillay began her legal career during apartheid, becoming the first woman to establish a law practice in Natal in 1967 and the first non-white woman to serve on South Africa’s High Court.
The Nobel Committee linked her early work defending Nelson Mandela and other opponents of apartheid to her later role in major international legal cases.
It said Pillay had offered hope to victims of violence and conflict throughout her career while demonstrating a firm commitment to accountability and justice.
Her work has also placed her at the centre of contentious international debates. As chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, she oversaw an investigation that concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the report as “scandalous”.
The award comes as the ICC faces growing pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump. Washington has imposed targeted sanctions on several ICC prosecutors and judges, while Trump has urged countries to withdraw from the court.
The US administration has opposed international legal actions targeting Israeli leaders and has considered broader measures against the court, according to sources cited by Reuters.
However, Haakon Gjerloew, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said the award should not be interpreted as a direct rebuke to Trump.
“I think it’s generally rather a promotion of an international legal world order,” Gjerloew said, adding that Trump might react to Pillay’s association with the ICC.
Nobel Prize to Be Presented in Oslo in December
The 2026 Peace Prize is worth 12 million Swedish crowns, approximately $1.2 million, and will be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist who established the awards in his will.
Pillay’s selection follows the announcement of the other Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics, chemistry and literature earlier this week. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
The committee’s decision places international law and the accountability of states at the centre of this year’s award, recognising a jurist whose career has spanned the struggle against apartheid, international criminal justice and investigations into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Arun Kumar N