Navi Pillay, the South African judge who was the head of the Rwanda genocide tribunal and chaired a UN commission that convicted Israel of genocide in Gaza, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today, a decision condemned by Israel.
The 85-year-old, who is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case in which Myanmar has also been accused of genocide, has spent her career upholding international law, AFP reported.
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Speaking today from the courtroom in Nuremberg, Germany where the trials prosecuting World War II Nazi leaders took place, she dedicated her honour to the “survivors of international crimes”.
“Pillay has been crucial to ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted,” said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.
Israel’s foreign ministry said the award legitimised “anti-Israel hatred” and that Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebells must be “applauding from the depths of hell”.
The daughter of a Tamil family bus driver, Pillay has worked in South African courts defending anti-apartheid activists as well as before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
She headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak for the international organization and last year concluded that genocide was occurring in Gaza.
At that moment Pillay told our correspondent her team had provided “thousands of pieces of information” with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.
Israel denounced the findings of the report as “distorted and false”.
The Nobel committee said: “Pillay’s independence, her expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time.”
Pillay said world leaders have a “legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war” and condemned attacks on the ICC.
She said: “We are in an era in which international law and human rights are under a major political assault. FollowPolitics
“This worsening reality is seen in the attacks on the International Criminal Court,” she continued.
Last month US President Donald Trump called on all ICC member states to withdraw from the body, condemning it as a “rogue institution”.
Earlier, she had responded to the news about her honour with a joke about Trump’s well-known desire to win the award himself.
Earlier, in a standing ovation, “If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump,” Pillay declared in Nuremberg, with Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard capturing the moment on film and posting it on the social network X.
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The Nobel committee said the award was a tribute to Pillay’s career of combating genocide, but did not take a position on whether Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounted to a genocide.
He said the article extolled at length her courage.
“You can imagine my astonishment. Why do you need bravery to say the truth?”
“The times call for the necessity and the importance of human rights in this world more than ever,” the UN said. The ICC said her award was of “particular significance” in light of attacks on international law.
Pillay’s reward is bound to infuriate Trump, whose administration has regularly assailed institutions of international justice.
“This is a clear message to the ones who are pressuring these institutions, to those who are sanctioning the judges and are attacking the institutions. That’s got to stop,” Frydnes said to our correspondent after the announcement.
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has been open about his goal to win the prize, stating that he was the most suitable candidate and claiming that he has stopped up to eight wars.
But his war against Iran, his goals for territorial expansion such as in Greenland, his hard position on immigration and his attacks on multilateralism and the media have in the opinion many Oslo experts disqualified him for the prize.
The reward carries a gold medal, diploma and $1.2 million in prize money.
The prize will be awarded in a ceremonial ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel who created the prize.
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