South African Jurist Navi Pillay Wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize
OSLO — South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her efforts to promote peace, human rights and international law, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo.
Pillay, 85, is the fifth South African to receive the prize, after Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, and the first South African woman.
Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes called Pillay “one of the most courageous and important legal experts of our time” at the announcement ceremony, NPR reported.
Born in 1941 in Durban to a Tamil Indian family, Pillay grew up under apartheid and became the first non-white woman to open a law practice in South Africa’s Natal Province in 1967. For nearly three decades she defended anti-apartheid activists, and in 1973 she won a landmark ruling securing rights for prisoners on Robben Island, including Mandela.
After apartheid ended, Mandela appointed her an acting judge of South Africa’s High Court in 1995, the first non-white woman to hold the post. She later served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as a judge of the International Criminal Court, and was the United Nations high commissioner for human rights from 2008 to 2014.
More recently, Pillay chaired the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, whose 2025 report concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a finding Israel rejected. The Times reported that Frydnes described the Gaza report as an important basis for the award decision.
“At a time when the number of wars and conflicts is rising, and when judges and institutions of international law are under political attack, the Nobel Committee wishes to issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence is dependent on the international rule of law,” the committee said in its announcement.
Pillay was attending a conference in Nuremberg, Germany, when she received the news, NPR reported. Amid applause, she joked that with a little more clapping she might “share this prize with Trump,” The Times reported. At a news conference, she said she was deeply honored and dedicated the prize to “all of the survivors of international crimes” and “defenders of international justice.”
The award drew sharp reactions. President Trump, who had openly campaigned for the prize, criticized the decision, and hours after the announcement the United States imposed new sanctions on the International Criminal Court, which the Trump administration has said it is working to dismantle, NPR reported. The court condemned the move, and Britain joined Canada, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands in expressing regret and disagreement with the American decision, The Times reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also criticized the decision, while human rights groups welcomed it.
The prize carries 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, and will be awarded in Oslo on Dec. 10. The committee said 287 candidates had been nominated this year. The 2026 prize marks the 125th anniversary of the award, first given in 1901.
