Indian-origin South African jurist Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay conferred the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in promoting peace and international law

Key facts

• Indian-origin South African jurist Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, 2026, for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
• The chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, announced the award in Oslo and said Pillay played a key role in the development of international law.
• Pillay became the fifth South African winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, after Nelson Mandela and F W de Klerk (shared 1993), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984) and Albert Luthuli (1961), Africa's first Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
• Born in Durban in 1941 to Indian parents of Tamil descent, Pillay became the first woman to open a law practice in South Africa's Natal Province in 1967 and the first Black woman judge on South Africa's High Court.
• Pillay served as a judge and president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for eight years, including four as president, where rulings first established that rape and sexual violence could constitute acts of genocide.
• Pillay later served as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
• From 2021 to 2025, Pillay chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded in 2025 that Israel had committed genocidal acts in Gaza, a finding Israel rejected.
• Aged 85, Pillay is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide.
• Pillay dedicated the prize to all survivors of international crime and to the practitioners and defenders of international justice.
• The 2026 award marked the 125th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize.