South African Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize was on Friday (Oct 9) awarded to South Africa's Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, a human rights champion who headed the Rwanda genocide tribunal and last year accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said."This year's laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted," said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.Pillay held states and national leaders accountable and brought hope to victims of violence and conflict, and demonstrated a firm moral compass in her long career, the committee said."A common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time," it added. Frydnes said that the honour comes at a time when international law and institutions are under attack.The committee is seeing a shift "towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice", he said at a press conference.The United Nations human rights office welcomed the news of the win, acknowledging PIllay's longstanding advocacy for human rights."It is amazing news, we need more dedication and commitment to human rights," Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, told reporters in Geneva.Navi Pillay was the former head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and a former International Criminal Court judge.In September last year, Pillay oversaw the publishing of a report by the UN Commission of Inquiry that concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts - accusations that Israel called scandalous."We hope it will encourage and continue to encourage and inspire others to speak out in protection and promotion of the human rights of all people around the world," Mantoo said in reaction to Pillay's win.The peace prize is the fifth Nobel awarded this week, after literature, chemistry, physics and medicine. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won in 2025.The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish crowns, or about US$1.2 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on Dec 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.