Navi Pillay, a judge who tried genocide cases, wins the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, a South African jurist who spent decades fighting apartheid in court and later judging genocide cases, won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo.

The committee honored the 85-year-old "for her efforts to promote peace and international law," according to Reuters. Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said her work "is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world," AP reported.

## Who is Navi Pillay

Pillay was born in Durban, South Africa, to a family of Indian Tamil origin and grew up under apartheid, Reuters reported. In 1967 she became the first woman to open a law practice in the province of Natal. She went on to become the first non-white woman to serve on South Africa's High Court.

As a lawyer, she defended Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera.

On the international stage, she served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which prosecuted those responsible for the 1994 genocide, and on the International Criminal Court, according to Reuters. She was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, AP reported.

She is currently an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice. Gambia selected her for its genocide case against Myanmar over its treatment of the Rohingya, according to AP.

## How she found out

The committee could not reach Pillay before the announcement, CBS News reported. From the podium, Frydnes asked that if she was watching and saw a call from a Norwegian number, she "please pick up."

Pillay heard the news at the Nuremberg Forum in Germany, where she received a standing ovation, according to AP. "But being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this information," she joked.

## Why the committee chose her

The committee said Pillay "held states and national leaders accountable" and brought hope to victims of violence and conflict, Reuters reported. It also warned more broadly: "The system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack."

According to Al Jazeera, the committee said Pillay was instrumental in making sure war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.

The committee received 287 nominations this year, CBS News reported. This is the 125th Nobel Peace Prize.

## The debate over what it means

Pillay also chaired a UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. That commission concluded last year that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Israel denies the charge and called the report "scandalous," according to Reuters.

AP described the award as a high-profile rebuke of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejected the commission's findings. Trump called the International Criminal Court an "out of control institution" and an "anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction" in his UN General Assembly speech last month, AP reported. Reuters reported that Trump recently urged countries to leave the ICC and that Washington has sanctioned several ICC prosecutors and judges.

Others read the choice differently. Haakon Gjerloew of the Peace Research Institute Oslo told Reuters the award was not a direct attack on Trump.

Trump has said repeatedly that he deserves the prize, according to Al Jazeera. Last year's laureate, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, gave her medal to Trump, but the committee says the honor cannot be transferred, CBS News reported.

## What happens next

Pillay will receive the prize, worth 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, according to Reuters.

Peace was the fifth Nobel announced this week, after medicine, physics, chemistry and literature.