South African Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize
“This year’s laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted,” said the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, South African judge Navi Pillay, speaks during a press conference in Geneva on Sep 16, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Fabrice Coffrini)
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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.
“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,” the prize committee said.
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.
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.
This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.
Source: Agencies/nh
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