South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award on October 9, recognising her contribution to strengthening legal institutions and ensuring accountability for grave international crimes.
Born in Durban in 1941 to a family of Indian Tamil origin, Pillay grew up under apartheid. She became a lawyer and challenged racial discrimination through her legal work. Her early career included defending Nelson Mandela and other opponents of apartheid.
Pillay later served as a judge on South Africa’s High Court before joining the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. As its president, she contributed to landmark jurisprudence recognising sexual violence as a potential act of genocide. She subsequently served as a judge at the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2008.
From 2008 to 2014, Pillay was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She worked on international responses to human rights violations and advocated stronger accountability mechanisms. She also co-founded Equality Now, an organisation campaigning for the rights of women and girls.
In 2025, Pillay chaired a United Nations commission of inquiry that concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the finding. She is also serving as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice in proceedings concerning alleged violations of the Genocide Convention by Myanmar.
The Nobel Committee’s decision highlights Pillay’s decades-long involvement in domestic and international legal institutions, from the struggle against apartheid to efforts to prosecute serious crimes under international law.
