OSLO, Norway — The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to South Africa’s Navi Pillay, the judge who headed the Rwanda genocide tribunal and who last year presided over a UN commission which accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Pillay, currently a judge on the International Court of Justice in a case where Myanmar also stands accused of genocide, has been “instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted,” said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.
Pillay headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body.
Pillay told Agence France-Presse (AFP) at the time that her team had shared “thousands of pieces of information” with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.
The UN said the prize for Pillay was testimony to the “value” of rights.
The Nobel jury said it was honoring her at a time when “the system of international law is under tremendous pressure and its institutions are under attack.”
“At a time of existential challenges — including more wars and conflicts than the world has seen in a long time — international law is no longer just a supplement to peace and security. It is an absolute necessity,” Watnes said.
“Navi Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career,” the committee said.
The prize — the ultimate diplomatic and humanitarian accolade — is sure to irk United States President Donald Trump, whose administration has repeatedly attacked international justice institutions.
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize.
“If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump,” Pillay said to a standing ovation captured by Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard in Nuremberg and posted on the social network X.
Pillay said her first reaction to hearing the news was that it must be a joke.
“Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this,” the 85-year-old said, wanting to make sure it was true.
Pillay mentioned her work heading the COI, which last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza.
“The last thing I did is the delivery of the report on Gaza, naming what’s happening there as genocide,” she said.
“One of the main reactions to that report is paying tribute to me for my courage. And you can imagine how surprised I was, why would you need courage to speak the truth?” she added.
The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2 million.
Last year, the prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who subsequently gave her Nobel gold medal to Trump.
The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2 million.
The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prizes’ creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.
The Peace Prize is the only Nobel awarded in Oslo, with the other disciplines announced in Stockholm.
On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Canadian poet Anne Carson for her modern twists on Greek mythology and antiquity that have inspired new forms of writing.
The 2026 Nobel season winds up on Monday with the economics prize.
