Navi Pillay, former UN human rights chief, wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, a South African former UN human rights chief.

Pillay, 85, has taken part in high-profile work considering allegations of human rights violations during a decades-long career, including in Rwanda, Myanmar, and Gaza.

Her early work included defending anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, and on Friday she became the country's fifth Peace Prize winner, following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Pillay's work has been 'instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted', said the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Jørgen Watne Frydnes.

The Nobel committee recognized Pillay's efforts to promote peace and international law, which paved the way for a 'more comprehensive global legal order'.

Pillay dedicated her award to 'all the survivors of international crimes' and the practitioners of international justice 'whose compassion and courage continue to ensure that impunity will not be allowed to reign'.

The Norwegian Nobel committee said Pillay has 'shown that legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence'.

Pillay's commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career, the committee said.

The committee mentioned her early work defending Nelson Mandela under South Africa's apartheid regime, serving on the international criminal tribunal, and then as the UN high commissioner for human rights, as well as chairing the UN independent international commission of inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory.

That commission concluded last year that the state of Israel was guilty of genocidal acts in Gaza 'with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza', and said the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, its president, Isaac Herzog, and its former defence minister Yoav Gallant had 'incited the commission of genocide'.

Pillay said on the publication of the commission's findings in September last year, 'It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the genocide convention.'