Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her work advancing peace and international law, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced.
Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said Ms Pillay had played a crucial role in bringing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide before the courts.
- Advertisement -
Ms Pillay responded to the announcement with characteristic humour, joking that she might “share the prize” with US President Donald Trump if the applause continued.
“If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump,” she said in a video posted to X by Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard. The footage showed Ms Pillay receiving applause after learning she had won.
Amazing moment. Navi Pillay has received the Nobel Peace Prize ! We are at the Nuremberg Court; I cannot think of a stronger symbol for her Nobel prize. We are all so thrilled! This is her first reactions upon hearing the news:
— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) October 9, 2026
“Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this,” said the 85-year-old, who wanted confirmation that the news was genuine.
Ms Pillay referred to her work leading the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which operates independently of the world body and concluded last year that genocide was taking place 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.
Born in South Africa, Ms Pillay has held judicial posts at the country’s High Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court.
She also served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and, until recently, chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Ms Pillay is currently a judge in a case before the International Court of Justice in which Myanmar is accused of genocide, according to the Nobel committee’s citation.
Myanmar has rejected the accusation.
“A common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time,” the committee said.
Watch: Prize awarded to Pillay for ‘efforts to promote peace and international law’
The committee said it had chosen to honour Ms Pillay as international law and the institutions designed to uphold it face mounting pressure.
“The system of international law is under tremendous pressure and its institutions are under attack,” Mr Frydnes told a press conference. He said the committee had observed a movement “towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice.”
Throughout her career, Ms Pillay held governments and national leaders to account, offered hope to victims of violence and conflict, and maintained what the committee described as a strong moral compass.
The Hague-based ICC has faced an intensifying campaign from Mr Trump, who last month called on countries to withdraw from the court.
The US has already imposed targeted sanctions on several ICC prosecutors and judges and, according to sources, is weighing broader sanctions in response to the court’s actions against Israeli leaders.
Haakon Gjerloew, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said the committee was not directly attacking Mr Trump by selecting Ms Pillay.
“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,” Mr Gjerloew said.
UN welcomes award win, Israel says it legitimises ‘anti-Israel hatred’
The United Nations human rights office welcomed Ms Pillay’s selection, citing her decades of work on behalf of human rights.
“It is amazing news, we need more dedication and commitment to human rights,” Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, told reporters in Geneva.
“We hope it will encourage and continue to encourage and inspire others to speak out in protection and promotion of the human rights of all people around the world,” she added.
In September last year, Ms Pillay oversaw the publication of a UN Commission of Inquiry report that found Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited those acts. Israel denounced the findings as scandalous.
Israel condemned the decision to award Ms Pillay the prize, saying it legitimised “anti-Israel hatred” and that Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be “applauding from hell”.
“Now that the Nobel commission has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is certainly applauding from hell,” the Israeli foreign ministry posted on X.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, praised Ms Pillay as a champion “of the rule of law over the right of might” who had confronted “some of humanity’s darkest chapters”.
“She is the defender of the persecuted, the vulnerable, the voiceless and the excluded,” Ms von der Leyen posted on X. “In a world that needs justice more than ever, her courage and moral clarity are a precious compass.”
The peace prize is the fifth Nobel award to be announced this week, following the prizes for literature, chemistry, physics and medicine.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado received the peace prize in 2025.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish crowns (€1.07m), will be presented in Oslo on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who established the awards in his 1895 will.
