Navi Pillay, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and now a judge at the International Court of Justice, has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, the BBC reports. The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited her efforts to promote peace and international law.
Pillay, 85, grew up under apartheid in Durban, defended anti-apartheid activists, served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and was elected to the International Criminal Court in 2003. She is South Africa's fifth Peace Prize laureate.
From 2021 to 2025 she chaired a UN commission of inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Israel's foreign ministry condemned the award, and committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said it was given for her whole career.
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