Jurist Navi Pillay receives this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
AP and AFP, OSLO and NUREMBERG, Germany
Navi Pillay, a South African-born jurist and former UN human rights chief whose career has spanned from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, yesterday won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote international law as it comes under attack.
Her win is sure to be seen as a high-profile rebuke to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have rejected the findings of the UN commission she led on Gaza. The leaders also have been highly critical of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; Pillay has worked at both.
Pillay’s work “is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world,” Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said in announcing her win.
South African lawyer and champion of international law Navi Pillay is pictured at the historic Courtroom 600 of Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice in Germany after she was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.
Photo: AFP
The committee said it sought to bolster international law at a time of conflict, and Watne Frydnes said Pillay’s award was a message to those seeking to undermine “the international rules-based system and the institutions.”
Pillay, 85, received the news while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany, the location of the trials of Nazi war criminals that helped lay the foundations of international law.
“Firstly, at this venue, your applause means a great deal to me,” she said. “You don’t want to receive an award, prize or anything unless the public agrees that you deserve this.”
Pillay dedicated her award to “survivors of international crimes,” and called on world leaders to respect international legal institutions.
“We are living through an era when international law and human rights are under significant political attack,” she said. “My message to leaders, political leaders, is that ... you have a legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war.”
Pillay chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which a year ago concluded Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.
The commission also found that the Israeli president, prime minister and former minister of defense “have incited the commission of genocide.”
Israel, which has refused to cooperate with the commission since it was established in 2021, has strenuously denied the accusations.
Pillay has repeatedly rebuffed critics who accused her of antisemitism or allegedly turning a blind eye to the Hamas attacks in Israel.
Under her leadership, the commission also issued reports accusing Hamas of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
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