Nobel Prize recognition to former ICC judge carries 'particular significance' --ICC president

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For International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane, the Nobel Peace Prize recognition for human rights lawyer and former ICC judge Navanethem "Navi" Pillay carries “particular significance."

Earlier today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Pillay “for her efforts to promote peace and international law” and for being “instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.”

In a statement sent to GMA News, Akane said the award to Pillay, an ICC judge from 2003 to August 2008 and President and Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, recognizes the role of international justice in ensuring peace.

“This is an important recognition of the vital role that international justice plays as a cornerstone of lasting peace,” Akane said.

“At a time of profound challenges to the international legal order and the rule of law, this recognition carries particular significance," she added.

The Nobel Peace Prize announcement comes as the Hague-based ICC faces an escalating campaign by US President Donald Trump, who last month urged countries to leave it.

Akane and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal are among the people in the international tribunal sanctioned by the US, which, according to Reuters sources, is considering wider sanctions in retaliation for the targeting of Israeli leaders.

The ICC calls the sanctions “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates pursuant to the mandate conferred by its States Parties from across regions.”

Another loss for Trump

Two days before the announcement, Trump said it would be a “great discredit” if the Norwegian Nobel Committee did not award him the Peace Prize.

“I don't know what their decision is going to be. They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me,” he said.

Trump, who has repeatedly said he is deserving of the prize, stated his role in “settling eight wars” and the ongoing war in Iran as a reason.

“I’ve stopped maybe the total obliteration of the world, because Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and that's a positive thing,” he claimed.

The committee was not directly criticizing Trump by rewarding Pillay, according to Haakon Gjerloew, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo.

"I think it's generally rather a promotion of an international legal world order. Of course, he might react to someone who has been part of the ICC, but it's not a direct attack on Trump," Gjerloew said.

Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate was Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

In a widely criticized move, she gave her medal to Trump in January 2026, days after the US captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.2 million, will be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will. —LDF, GMA News