Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for work advancing international law
publishers 197articles 270first reported 8 Oct, 15:42 UTCdeveloping since 9 Oct · 13 editions
South African jurist Navi Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced.
The committee called Pillay “one of the most respected international jurists of our time,” and committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said her work had helped ensure the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Pillay, 85, dedicated the award to survivors of international crimes and to practitioners of international justice.
Pillay defended anti-apartheid activists early in her career and became the first non-white woman appointed to South Africa’s High Court. She later served on the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, including as its president, and became an International Criminal Court judge in 2003. From 2008 to 2014, she was the UN high commissioner for human rights.
She also chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 2021 to 2025. That commission concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a finding Israel rejects. Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced Pillay’s Nobel award as a “grotesque weaponization” of the prize and accused her of hostility and falsehoods.
In an interview published Wednesday, Pillay said international support could reassure Palestinians that they were not alone. Drawing on South Africa’s experience under apartheid, she called for collective international action and economic sanctions to support accountability.
Indonesia’s deputy human rights minister, Mugiyanto, welcomed the award, praising Pillay’s work on justice, civilian protection and enforcement of international law.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 5 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 134 h after the record first saw the story; the editor revised it.
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- 8, 5 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
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WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and changed it before publication. Struck words were in the draft; underlined words are its corrections.
WHAT IT FLAGGED editor revise: Correct the attribution of the committee’s description of Pillay while retaining Frydnes’s separately sourced statement about her work. - "Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes called Pillay “one of the most respected international jurists of our time”": The sources attribute this description to the Nobel committee, not specifically to Frydnes.
THE DRAFT AND THE CHANGES
Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for work advancing international law
South African jurist Navi Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced.
CommitteeThe chair Jørgen Watne Frydnescommittee called Pillay “one of the most respected international jurists of our time”time,” and committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said her work had helped ensure the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Pillay, 85, dedicated the award to survivors of international crimes and to practitioners of international justice.
Pillay defended anti-apartheid activists early in her career and became the first non-white woman appointed to South Africa’s High Court. She later served on the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, including as its president, and became an International Criminal Court judge in 2003. From 2008 to 2014, she was the UN high commissioner for human rights.
She also chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 2021 to 2025. That commission concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a finding Israel rejects. Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced Pillay’s Nobel award as a “grotesque weaponization” of the prize and accused her of hostility and falsehoods.
In an interview published Wednesday, Pillay said international support could reassure Palestinians that they were not alone. Drawing on South Africa’s experience under apartheid, she called for collective international action and economic sanctions to support accountability.
Indonesia’s deputy human rights minister, Mugiyanto, welcomed the award, praising Pillay’s work on justice, civilian protection and enforcement of international law.
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