“We award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize… to Navanatham Navi Pillay… for her efforts to promote peace and international law.” Jørgen Friednes, Chair of the Nobel Committee
From a society divided along racial lines, Judge and activist Navi Pillay managed to rise to the pinnacle of international justice and today, at the age of 85, to have her name associated with the Nobel Peace Prize.
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This is the highest honor for a woman from South Africa who learned as a child that peace is not merely the absence of war. It is the defense of human rights and, above all, the effort to ensure that crimes do not go unpunished.
The announcement of the award found her in Nuremberg, at a symposium on international law, where everyone stood up to applaud her. And she made sure to turn her sweet embarrassment into humor.
“Thank you very much! If you clap a little longer, maybe I’ll share the prize with Trump. They called me to tell me, and I thought it must be a joke.” Navi Pillay, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
An award that did not come by chance.
Life and Work
Born in 1941 in South Africa to a poor family of Indian descent, Pillay lived in an era when apartheid determined who had rights and who did not. She, however, chose to become the voice of those who could not be heard.
So, she studied law and earned a Ph.D. at Harvard, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice in South Africa.
“I got into college because my community pooled its meager funds. The principal and the teachers went door to door… and said: ‘We have a girl with potential. We believe she should go to university.’” Navi Pillay, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
As a lawyer, she fought against racial discrimination, defended political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, and later, as a judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, she achieved a historic victory: the recognition that sexual violence in war zones can constitute an act of genocide.
In 2008, she joined the United Nations, assuming the position of High Commissioner for Human Rights, and more recently served as Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry, which also recognized genocide in Gaza.
“The Israeli authorities committed acts of torture… which constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity.” Navi Pillay, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
A woman who firmly believes that justice, not truth, requires courage.
The official presentation of the gold medal will take place on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel… the founder of the Nobel Prizes.
Watch Yiannis Xenophontos’s report
