Navi Pillay Wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

Reuters

Navi Pillay.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday that South African judge Navi Pillay has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her “efforts to promote peace and international law”.

The committee said Pillay, 85, had held national leaders accountable, offered hope to victims of violence and conflict, and maintained an unwavering moral compass throughout her long career.

“There is a common thread running from the early days of her career—defending Nelson Mandela and others who fought against the apartheid regime—to her work as a judge in some of the most significant international court cases of our time,” the committee added.

Pillay chaired the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded last year that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the commission’s findings, describing them as “shameful”.

The Peace Prize is the fifth Nobel Prize to be announced this week, following the awards for Literature, Chemistry, Physics and Medicine. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025.

Worth 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.2 million), the Nobel Peace Prize is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who established the prizes in his will in 1895.


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