Updated October 9, 2026 at 5:44 AM MDT
Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay, a leading South African jurist and former U.N. human rights chief, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her lifetime commitment to international law.
At a ceremony in Oslo, Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes called Pillay "one of the most courageous and important legal experts of our time."
"There is a thread to her involvement in standing and supporting Nelson Mandela and the prisoners of Robben Island, to her being a key to all the major international court cases of our time," he said.
Born in Durban in 1941, Pillay—who is a South African of Indian-Tamil descent—became the first woman of color to open a legal practice in her home province of Natal, where she defended anti-apartheid activists.
In 1973, she successfully sued the government to establish that political prisoners on South Africa's infamous Robben Island, including Nelson Mandela, had the right to legal representation.
A year after apartheid ended in 1994, Pillay became a high court judge in South Africa in 1995. She was shortly appointed to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she presided over a landmark case that established that rape and sexual assault could constitute an acts of genocide.
Pillay served as a judge at the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2012, while also serving as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
The 85-year-old was attending a conference in Nuremberg, Germany, when she received the news she had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
"If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump," she joked in front of a small crowd of well-wishers. "Being a lawyer and a judge I still want to verify this information," she added, to laughter.
Pillay referred to her recent work as chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded in 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
She also sought to play down suggestions that she was courageous.
"Why would you need courage to speak the truth? You interpret the law, you look at all the facts, so it's impartial decision-making," she said.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that continued attacks on the rule of law and its institutions had influenced its decisions.
"This is a message that international law and its institutions are the cornerstone of a more peaceful world," Jørgen Watne Frydnes said.
The U.S., for example, has sanctioned senior International Criminal Court officials, including half of its judges and its former chief prosecutor, piling significant pressure on the institution.
The sanctions are connected to investigations into U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan, as well as arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of the ICC, but the Trump administration has argued that the court threatens U.S. sovereignty. This year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also announced a campaign to "dismantle" the ICC.
The news of Pillay's win will come as a blow to President Trump, who has long coveted the Nobel Peace Prize. He told reporters on Wednesday he believed he deserved it.
"I settled eight wars," the president said, while admitting that the Nobel Prize Committee had "a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me."
In January, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gifted Trump the physical gold medal she received for winning the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize—as thanks for the U.S. military operation that captured former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
This year's Nobel Peace Prize attracted 287 nominations, including individuals and organizations. The award carries prize money of 12 million Swedish kronor, approximately $1.2 million. The 2026 prize marks the 125th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, first awarded in 1901.
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