International / Rest of the World

South African judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize

AFP Published on October 09, 2026 | 12:00 AM

South African lawyer and champion of international law Navi Pillay is pictured after she was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, on October 9, 2026 at the historic Courtroom 600 of Nuremberg's Palace of Justice, venue of the 1945-1946 Nuremberg Trials against leaders of defeated Nazi Germany, in Nuremberg, southern Germany, where she was attending the Nuremberg Forum 2026 conference of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded 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 chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo. (Photo by Frank BOXLER / AFP)

South African lawyer and champion of international law Navi Pillay addresses journalists after she was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, on October 9, 2026 at the historic Courtroom 600 of Nuremberg's Palace of Justice, venue of the 1945-1946 Nuremberg Trials against leaders of defeated Nazi Germany, in Nuremberg, southern Germany, where she was attending the Nuremberg Forum 2026 conference of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded 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 chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo. (Photo by Frank BOXLER / AFP)

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded yesterday to South Africa's Navi Pillay, a judge whose career has seen her tackle allegations of genocide in Gaza, Rwanda and Myanmar, prompting a furious response from Israel.

Pillay, a former judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC), said she dedicated her award to the "survivors of international crimes", speaking Friday from the courtroom in Nuremberg, Germany where the trials prosecuting World War II Nazi leaders took place.

She criticised attacks on institutions such as the ICC — which has been in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump.

But hours later the US announced sanctions on the ICC, vowing to cripple the tribunal's operations.

Israel meanwhile issued an angry response to the award announcement, saying it legitimised "anti-Israel hatred", and that Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be "applauding from hell".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said the nod showed the committee had "lost its moral compass" by honouring "a bigot".

Pillay, 85, who is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case in which Myanmar also stands accused of genocide, has spent her career defending international law.

She has been "instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted," said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

The daughter of a bus driver in a family of Tamil descent, Pillay's career has taken her from South African courts, where she defended anti-apartheid activists, to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after its 1994 genocide, and the ICC.

She headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body, and which last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza.

Pillay told AFP at the time that her team had shared "thousands of pieces of information" with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.

Israel had categorically rejected the report's findings, slamming it as "distorted and false".

Pillay's "independence, her expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time," the Nobel committee said.

In Nuremberg, Pillay said world leaders have a "legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war".

"We are living through an era when international law and human rights are under significant political attack," she said, noting it was "particularly visible with the attacks on the International Criminal Court".

Trump last month called for all ICC member states to quit the body. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with what he called a "rogue court."

"Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC," Rubio said in a statement.

Frydnes told AFP after the announcement that the decision to award the prize to Pillay was "a clear message to those who are putting pressure on these institutions, to those who are sanctioning the judges and are attacking the institutions. That needs to stop".

Earlier, Pillay reacted to the news about her prize by making a quip about Trump's well-documented desire to win the prize himself.

"If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump," she said during a standing ovation captured on video by Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard in Nuremberg and posted on the social network X.

The Nobel committee did not mention the allegations against Israel in Gaza in its comments awarding Pillay the prize.

When asked by AFP, it said it was up to the international court to rule on whether Israel's actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.

Pillay noted that many had paid tribute to her courage in that report.

"You can imagine how surprised I was," she said. "Why would you need courage to speak the truth?"

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize.

But his war against Iran, his territorial expansion ambitions as in Greenland, his hard line on migrants, and his attacks on multilateralism and the media have, according to experts in Oslo, disqualified him.

The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2mn.

The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prize's creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.