Navi Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her work to promote peace and international law, as the Norwegian Nobel Committee warned that the institutions charged with upholding those laws are under attack.

The 85-year-old former United Nations human rights chief has served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court. The committee said she had been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.

“The system of international law is under tremendous pressure and its institutions are under attack,” committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said at the announcement in Oslo. “This is definitely a message to those who are undermining the international system and institutions,” he said of the decision to honor Pillay.

In its statement, the committee pointed to an urgent need for international law amid a rise in armed conflict. “At a time of existential challenges – including more wars and conflicts than the world has seen in a long time – international law is no longer just a supplement to peace and security. It is an absolute necessity,” it said. Frydnes described judges as those “who guard the thin red line between order and chaos.”

Pillay, a South African of Indian Tamil origin, acted as a defense attorney for Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists, according to Al Jazeera. The outlet reported that she currently sits on the International Court of Justice in a case in which Myanmar stands accused of genocide.

Frydnes said the committee had not been able to reach Pillay before the announcement. Speaking from the podium, he asked her to “please pick up” if she saw a call from a Norwegian phone number.

The prize comes as the International Criminal Court faces pressure from the Trump administration. The United States imposed sanctions against the court after it issued a 2024 arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, CBS News reported. President Donald Trump accused the court of “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” The ICC condemned the sanctions against its staff, saying they were intended to harm its “independent and impartial judicial work.”

The committee received 287 nominations this year, with organizations accounting for just over a quarter of the candidates. NBC News reported that Trump was among them, nominated by leaders of Israel, Pakistan and Cambodia. Other possible contenders included Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny; Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate; Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms; and Mykola Kuleba, who founded an organization to rescue Ukrainian children abducted and forcibly deported by Russia.

Trump said this week that he did not expect to win. “I don’t know what their decision is going to be,” he said. “They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me.” Last year’s winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, gave Trump her Nobel medal in January. The committee has said the honor itself cannot be transferred.

This year’s prize, the 125th Nobel Peace Prize, carries an award of 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.