ICJ judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel peace prize for promoting international law

Committee recognises work of South African who chaired UN commission that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African former UN human rights chief who chaired the UN commission that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza.

“Navi Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career,” the committee said, mentioning her early work defending Nelson Mandela under South Africa’s apartheid regime, serving on 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.

“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,” Pillay said on the publication of the commission’s findings in September last year.

“If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner,” the ministry said on X, adding: “Awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t a recognition of justice. It’s the grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.

In its statement, the Nobel committee said Pillay, 85, had “contributed to strengthen the institutions of international law”.

“In awarding this year’s Nobel peace prize, the Norwegian Nobel committee wants to remind the world that the rule of law – national and international – underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts non-violently,” its statement said.

“I don’t know about it so much. The question is: is it true? Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify it,” she said.

Pillay is currently overseeing a genocide case against Myanmar at the ICJ.

Edwin Cameron, a retired South African constitutional court justice, said: “The award of the Prize to Navi Pillay re-emphasises that the prize embodies an international aspiration to peace, and to respect and understanding across borders – and that leaders of great stature in our country – [Desmond] Tutu, Mandela, now Pillay – are recognised outside it, on the international stage.

Yasmin Sooka, a human rights lawyer and commissioner on both South Africa and Sierra Leone’s truth and reconciliation commissions, said Pillay “follows in the footsteps of Chief Albert Luthuli and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, carrying forward South Africa’s proud tradition of linking peace with justice and human dignity”.

In 1998, the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda found Jean-Paul Akayesu, a former mayor of Taba, guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.