Navi Pillay Wins the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for Advancing International Law

9 October 2026National

The Norwegian Nobel Committee on 9 October 2026 awarded the 125th Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay, an 85-year-old South African jurist of Indian Tamil origin, for strengthening peace through international law. Picked from 287 nominations (208 individuals, 79 organisations), she was cited for helping ensure that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted, notably at the ICTR, whose Akayesu judgment first recognised rape as an instrument of genocide. Pillay was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008-2014). The award completes a Nobel week that had already honoured optogenetics, IceCube, asymmetric synthesis and Anne Carson.

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The Nobel Peace Prize is the only Nobel awarded in Oslo, Norway, by the Norwegian Nobel Committee; all other Nobels are presented in Stockholm | The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize carries 12 million Swedish kronor and is presented on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death | The ICTR was set up by UN Security Council Resolution 955 of 1994 and sat at Arusha, Tanzania

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