The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for defending international law and the institutions that support it, according to NBC News. The Norwegian Nobel Committee presented the award as recognition of many years of service to justice, at a time when power is increasingly prevailing over law. Pillay is 85, and her career is associated with both the struggle against apartheid and international criminal justice.
Her career includes defending Nelson Mandela and resisting South Africa's racist regime. She also served as a judge at the International Criminal Court and led a United Nations commission that concluded Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This was the conclusion of that particular commission, which both she and those commenting on her award referred to.
The chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, described Pillay as one of the foremost defenders of international legal principles of our time. He linked her work to the broader shift toward international politics driven by power, saying that international law is under great pressure and its institutions are under attack. In his view, her career is a reminder of the need to support, strengthen and expand the rule of law globally. He also presented her commitment to justice and human dignity as a source of hope for those seeking a more peaceful world.
Pillay learned of her award while at the Nuremberg Forum, a meeting on international law in Germany. Before an applauding audience, she said she did not intend to stop working, even though she had turned 85 the previous month. She referred to the repeated questions she receives about when she will retire and cited the report on Gaza as a recent example of her work.
Speaking about the report, she reiterated its conclusion of genocide and remarked that many people had praised her courage. She wondered why telling the truth requires courage, describing her work as interpreting the law and examining all the facts. Her reaction to the announcement of the prize also included humor: as a lawyer and judge, she said, she still wanted to verify the information that she had won.
Amnesty International's secretary general, Agnès Callamard, was in Germany and was among the first people to inform Pillay. Speaking to NBC News, she described the choice as particularly fitting at a time of attacks on international justice. She argued that the US government is seeking to destroy the International Criminal Court and that many states are trying to defend Israel's actions. In this context, she emphasized both Pillay's earlier service at the court and her role on the UN commission.
Pillay was not among the leading contenders before the announcement. They included Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, and Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate. Possible winners also included Mykola Kuleba, founder of an organization that rescues children from Ukraine who were abducted and forcibly taken to Russia.
At the Nuremberg Forum, Pillay joked that if the audience applauded a little longer, she might share the prize with Donald Trump. The remark referred to the American president's long-standing desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize and to last year's winner, Maria Corina Machado, offering to share it with him as she sought support for her efforts in Venezuela. According to the leaders of Israel, Pakistan and Cambodia, who said they had nominated him, Trump was among the 287 candidates. He had said earlier in the week that he did not expect to win.
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