Former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge Navi Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, with the award committee warning that international law is under growing pressure as powerful states challenge the institutions meant to uphold it.
The 85-year-old South African jurist was honoured on Friday for “her efforts to promote peace and international law”.
The award comes amid a bitter standoff between the ICC and US President Donald Trump, who has urged countries to withdraw from the court and imposed sanctions on several of its prosecutors and judges.
The Hague-based court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister last year, prompting further tensions with Washington.
“The system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack,” the Nobel committee said.
“We see a shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice. Whenever might overtakes right, it undermines stability, trust and peaceful co-existence.”
Ms Pillay chaired the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the report as “scandalous” and “fake”.
The judge learnt of the award while attending a legal conference in Nuremberg, Germany, where the first international criminal tribunal was established after World War II to try Nazi leaders.
“The last thing I did is the delivery of the report on Gaza, naming what’s happening there as genocide,” she told a gathering celebrating her award.
“If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump,” she added, drawing laughter.
Born in Durban to a family of Indian Tamil origin, Ms Pillay broke racial and gender barriers in South Africa’s legal profession. In 1967, she became the first woman to establish a law practice in Natal and later the first non-white woman to serve on the country’s High Court.
She went on to serve as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2008 and 2014 and as a judge at the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
The Nobel committee cited her work defending Nelson Mandela and other opponents of apartheid, saying she had held states and national leaders accountable while giving hope to victims of violence and conflict.
ICC President Tomoko Akane welcomed the award, saying: “At a time of profound challenges to the international legal order and the rule of law, this recognition carries particular significance.”
Ms Pillay remains a judge at the International Court of Justice, which is hearing a case in which Myanmar stands accused of genocide.
The Nobel Peace Prize is worth about $1.2 million, and will be presented in Oslo on December 10.
– Additional reporting by Reuters.
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