South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former United Nations human rights chief, has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award Friday in Oslo, citing her work to promote peace and international law.
The committee said that amid existential challenges, international law “is no longer just a supplement to peace and security. It is an absolute necessity.” Committee chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes said the international legal system is under tremendous pressure and that judges “guard the thin red line between order and chaos,” Al Jazeera reported.
The prize is worth 12 million Swedish kronor, about US$1.2 million. It will be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10.
Pillay is 85 and is of Indian Tamil origin. In 1967 she became the first woman to open a law practice in what was then the province of Natal. She defended Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists and later became the first woman of colour on South Africa’s High Court.
She served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where the committee credited her with helping establish that rape and sexual violence can constitute crimes against humanity and genocide. She later served on the International Criminal Court and as the UN high commissioner for human rights.
Pillay also chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory. She currently sits on the International Court of Justice, which is hearing the case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide against the Rohingya.
Pillay said she first thought the announcement was a joke and, as a lawyer and judge, wanted to verify it. French-language Canadian outlets, including TVA Nouvelles, reported that she joked she might share the prize with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has long said he wants the award.
Ashok Swain, a researcher at Uppsala University, told Al Jazeera the prize will not bring concrete change on the ground, but that its message matters in the current climate. He said international law has become a free-for-all.
The committee received 287 nominations this year. Other contenders included the International Space Station, emergency response teams in Sudan, children’s advocates in Ukraine, and two top international courts.
The announcement was among the most searched topics in Canada on Friday, according to Google Trends, with French-language searches for the prize leading.
Last year’s laureate was Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Details of the committee’s citation are available from NobelPrize.org. The information in this report comes from Al Jazeera and CNN, with reaction from TVA Nouvelles and Le Journal de Montreal.
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