The Norwegian Nobel Committee announcd the 125th Nobel Peace Prize on October 9 in Oslo. The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was conferred on Navi Pillai, a South African jurist of Indian Origin for her work to promote peace and international law. According to Nobel Committee” Pillay, a former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, had been instrumental in ensuring war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted. She also drew attention to UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which she chaired. It concluded last year that Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. Her career spans the struggle against apartheid, landmark prosecutions for genocide and sexual violence, and six years at the helm of the United Nations’ human-rights office.
The Committee said in a statement, “At a time of existential challenges – including more wars and conflicts than the world has seen in a long time – international law is no longer just a supplement to peace and security. It is an absolute necessity.”Committee Chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes said that the system of international law was “under tremendous pressure” and its institutions were “under attack” adding that it is judges “who guard the thin red line between order and chaos”. Reacting to her Nobel win Pillay, 85 said in the historic courtroom in Germany’s Nuremberg where the trials prosecuting Nazi leaders after World War II were held that she would “dedicate this award to all of the survivors of international crimes”.
The journey of Navi Pillay
Navanethem Pillay, known as Navi Pillay, was born in the racially segregated city of Durban in South Africa’s Natal province in 1940 to parents of Tamil descent. After earning a law degree from the University of Natal, she became the first woman in Natal province to start her own law firm. Early in her career, she helped defend numerous anti-apartheid activists in the country. She later became the first woman of colour to sit on the High Court of South Africa. She went on to preside over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which prosecuted those charged with humanitarian crimes during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Pillay was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) from 2008 to 2014. More recently she chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory which determined last year that Israel is responsible for carrying out genocide in Gaza.
