Former ICC judge Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

South African jurist and human rights champion Navi Pillay, a former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of her work against war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Pillay, who headed the Rwanda genocide tribunal, also presided over a UN commission that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Pillay’s victory honours those who fight to defend international law and human rights.
“Today’s prize is a tribute to all those working to uphold and defend international law, the rule of law and human rights, and secure peace, justice and human dignity,” he said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the award was a “profound tribute to the veteran jurist’s courage, integrity and lifelong commitment to justice”.
Israel’s foreign ministry condemned the award. “It’s the grotesque weaponisation of an award to legitimise anti-Israel hatred and prejudice,” the ministry wrote on X.
“Now that the Nobel commission has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is certainly applauding from hell,” it added, referring to the Nazi propagandist.

The peace prize is the fifth Nobel awarded this week, after literature, chemistry, physics and medicine. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won in 2025.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.2 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
However, Navi Pillay, joked that, “If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump,” in a video posted to X by the Secretary General of Amnesty International, which showed Pillay being applauded in Nuremberg after the announcement of the award. She said that her first reaction to hearing the news was that it must be a joke.
“Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this,” the 85-year-old said, wanting to make sure it was true.
Pillay mentioned her work heading 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, on the day dedicated her award to “survivors of international crimes,” and called on world leaders to respect international legal institutions in a press conference in the historic courtroom in Germany’s Nuremberg where the trials prosecuting Nazi leaders after World War II were held.

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