Navi Pillay Wins Nobel Prize For Promoting Peace & Intl Law
The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
Oslo: Former UN human rights chief Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, a judge on the International Court of Justice, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in Oslo, Norway. The Nobel Committee announced the award goes to the former South African jurist and a former UN human rights commissioner for her work to promote peace and international law.
Originally from Durban in South Africa, Pillay was president of the international tribunal on Rwanda's genocide between the late 1990s and early 2000s. More recently, she was part of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, created by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021.
Profile: Born in Durban on September 23, 1941, to Indian parents of Tamil descent, Pillay grew up under apartheid and went on to build a career defending anti-apartheid activists and advancing human rights and equality.
In 1967, she became the first woman to open a law practice in South Africa's Natal Province. She later became the first Black woman to serve as a judge on South Africa's High Court.
She also served as a judge and president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a judge at the International Criminal Court and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.