Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize as US sanctions threaten international justice

Navi Pillay, a South African-born jurist and former U.N. human rights chief whose career has spanned from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her efforts to promote international law as it comes under attack.

Pillay’s work “is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, in announcing her win in Oslo, Norway, as part of the peace prize’s 125th anniversary. Watne Frydnes also said Pillay's award was a message to those seeking to undermine “the international rules based system and the institutions.”

Her win is sure to be seen as a high-profile rebuke to U.S. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have both rejected the findings of a U.N. commission she led that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

The leaders also have been highly critical of the ICJ and the International Criminal Court; Pillay has worked at both. Alphons Orie, a former Judge of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, emphasized the importance of international courts. "Where domestic jurisdictions cannot try, for example, heads of state, we still need international courts and tribunals, and I think finally they'll survive despite the attacks," said Orie in an interview with The Associated Press.

Pillay, 85, received the news while attending the Nuremberg Forum in Nuremberg, Germany, the location of the trials of Nazi war criminals that helped lay the foundations of international law. “Firstly, at this venue, your applause means a great deal to me,” she said to a standing ovation. “You know, you don’t want to receive an award, prize or anything unless the public agrees that you deserve this.” And joking, she added: "But being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this information.” Pillay chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council.

The commission a year ago concluded Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. The commission also found that the Israeli president, prime minister and former defense minister "have incited the commission of genocide.” Israel, which has refused to cooperate with the commission since it was established in 2021, has strenuously denied the charges.

Pillay has repeatedly rejected accusations from critics who accused her of antisemitism or allegedly turning a blind eye to the Hamas attacks in Israel. In an interview with the AP last year, she recalled how she worked closely with some Jewish lawyers in the fight against apartheid in her native South Africa and was invited to Israel as the U.N. rights chief from 2008 to 2014.