South Africa’s Navi Pillay awarded 2026 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday in Oslo to South Africa's Navi Pillay, the judge who headed the Rwanda genocide tribunal and who last year presided over a UN commission which accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.

Pillay, currently a judge on the International Court of Justice in a case where Myanmar also stands accused of genocide, has been "instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted," said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

Pillay headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body, and which last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza.

She told news agency AFP at the time that her team had shared "thousands of pieces of information" with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.

The UN said the prize for Pillay, 85, was testimony to the "value" of rights "more than ever".

The Nobel jury said it was honouring her at a time when "the system of international law is under tremendous pressure and its institutions are under attack."

"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," Frydnes said.

"Navi Pillay's commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career," the committee said.

Pillay reacted to the news by making a quip about US President Donald Trump's well-documented desire to win the prize himself.

The prize for Pillay is sure to anger Trump, whose administration has repeatedly attacked international justice institutions.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize, insisting that he was the most deserving candidate and claiming to have ended up to eight wars.

"They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me .. and I think it would be a great discredit to them," Trump had said on Wednesday.

But his war against Iran, his territorial expansion ambitions as in Greenland, his hard line on migrants, and his attacks on multilateralism and the media have, according to experts in Oslo, disqualified him for the prize.

The reasons given by the Nobel Committee for choosing Peace Prize winners have changed substantially since 1901, shifting from promoting peace to defending human rights in a trend that gained momentum during the Cold War, according to an AFP analysis.

The Nobel committee meanwhile says it is not swayed by external pressures.

"Of course we have to discuss it, but it's not like that influences the discussions in the room and decisions that come out," the secretary of the committee, Kristian Berg Harpviken, told AFP ahead of the prize announcement.

The Nobel peace committee said it was not taking a stance on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, after it honoured South African judge Navi Pillay who headed a UN commission that said the claims were valid.

"It's her report, the Commission's report, and of course we have great faith in her professionalism, in her integrity, but that work is of a UN inquiry commission," Frydnes told AFP when asked to comment.

He said it was up to international courts to rule on the issue, stressing that the Nobel Committee "is not the court".

When announcing the prize, Frydnes highlighted that Pillay had chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, but made no mention of either Gaza or Israel.

The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2 million.

The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10th, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prizes' creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.

The Peace Prize is the only Nobel awarded in Oslo, with the other disciplines announced in Stockholm.