South African-born jurist Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize for work in international justice

Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, on Friday for efforts to promote international law and justice. The South African-born jurist previously served as U.N. human rights chief, an International Criminal Court judge and a judge at the International Court of Justice. The award followed her leadership of a U.N.-backed commission that concluded Israel committed genocide in Gaza, findings rejected by Israel, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Pillay, 85, received the announcement while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany, in the courtroom where Nazi war-crimes trials were held.

The Gaza commission also accused Hamas of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Pillay served as a judge at the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2008 and currently serves as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice in the genocide case against Myanmar.

The Trump administration imposed sanctions blocking the International Criminal Court’s assets in U.S. jurisdictions and gave American companies and individuals six months to wind down business with the court.

The Nobel Peace Prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.

Published Oct 10, 2026 2:54 pm KST

South African-born jurist and former U.N. human rights chief Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, sits at the Nuremberg Forum in Nuremberg, Germany, Oct. 9, following the announcement that she had been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.

OSLO, Norway — Navi Pillay, a South African-born jurist and former U.N. human rights chief whose career has spanned from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for efforts that the award committee said promoted international law as it comes under attack.

Her win is sure to be seen as a high-profile rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have both rejected the findings of the U.N. commission she led on Gaza. The leaders also have been highly critical of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Pillay has worked at both.

Hours after the award was announced in Norway, the Trump administration imposed sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.

Trump railed against the decision on Friday, claiming he deserved the prize and dismissing Pillay as “a liberal person who works at the United Nations who nobody has ever heard of.” He later said on social media that “she, very obviously, hates Israel.”

“The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are antidemocracy and really enemies of civilization,” Trump told a rally for Republican candidates in Syracuse, New York. “And we will not forget, Norway.”

South African-born jurist and former U.N. human rights chief Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, center, poses with the former president of the International Criminal Court, Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi, and the director of the International Academy of the Nuremberg Principles, Christoph Safferling, at the Nuremberg Forum in Nuremberg, Germany, Oct. 9, following the announcement that she had been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. AP-Yonhap

On the 125th anniversary of the prize's inception, the Norwegian Nobel Committee sought “to remind the world that the rule of law, national and international, underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts nonviolently. Peace requires justice,” committee Chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes said.

Judges “guard the thin red line between order and chaos,” and the world needs jurists “of courage, vision and determination, qualities that Navi Pillay demonstrates in her work on the bench.”

In places such as Israel and in apartheid-era South Africa, she and peers took on some of the world’s most painful and sensitive legal issues and most vulnerable populations.

Pillay, 85, received the news while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany, where the trials of Nazi war criminals helped lay the foundations of international law. She was in the same room where the trials were held when the prize was announced.

She said efforts to weaken international criminal justice “endanger the progress painstakingly made since Nuremberg, and they risk returning us to a world in which power, rather than law, determines whose suffering matters.”

Winner led investigation that determined Israel committed genocide in Gaza

Pillay chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council. The commission a year ago concluded Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.

Gaza was among Pillay’s first comments Friday after hearing she had won. “What’s happening there is genocide,” she said to applause.

Palestinians save their belongings from buildings destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Oct. 9. AP-Yonhap

The commission also found that the Israeli president, prime minister and former defense minister “have incited the commission of genocide.” Israel, which has refused to cooperate with the commission since it was established in 2021, has strenuously denied the accusations.

Pillay has repeatedly rebuffed critics who accused her of antisemitism or turning a blind eye to the Hamas attacks in Israel. Under her leadership, the commission also issued reports accusing Hamas of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

In an interview with The Associated Press last year, she recalled how she worked closely with some Jewish lawyers in the fight against apartheid in her native South Africa and was invited to Israel as the U.N. rights chief from 2008 to 2014.

Growing up under the harsh system of segregation influenced Pillay's interest in human rights and the law. Starting with Mandela’s presidency, South Africa’s government has openly compared the situation faced by nonwhite people during apartheid to the Palestinians’ plight.

“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians,” Mandela said soon after apartheid ended.

The Nobel announcement came at another critical time for Gaza, just two days after the anniversary of the Hamas-led 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 people and sparked the war. Over 74,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with their territory devastated. Saturday marks a year since a fragile ceasefire took effect, while Israeli strikes continue.

Netanyahu wrote on X that the Nobel committee “has lost its moral compass” by awarding its highest honor to “a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the one and only Jewish state.”

The award was announced less than three weeks before Israel’s election, in which Netanyahu is fighting to stay in power.

Award and sanctions renew focus on Trump's feud with court

Pillay’s win and the new U.S. sanctions bring renewed attention to Trump’s ongoing feud with the International Criminal Court, where Pillay was a judge from 2003 to 2008.

In a video address, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration would “ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us.”

An illustration of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navanethem "Navi" Pillay following the announcement of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Oct. 9. EPA-Yonhap

The sanctions block any assets the ICC as an institution has in U.S. jurisdictions and set a six-month timeline for American companies and individuals to wind down any business with the court.

The Nobel committee did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment following Rubio’s announcement.

Pillay currently serves as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice, the highest court of the United Nations, in the ongoing genocide case against Myanmar.

When countries do not have a representative on the court’s permanent, 15-judge panel, they can appoint an expert of their choice. Gambia, which launched the proceedings in 2019, selected Pillay when the country accused Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya minority group.

As a young lawyer in apartheid South Africa, part of Pillay’s work involved establishing key rights for political prisoners being held on Robben Island, which included Mandela, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize.

After apartheid ended, Mandela appointed Pillay to be the country’s first nonwhite woman to serve as a High Court judge.

Venezuelan opposition leader won last year

Last year, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in the South American nation.

Machado gave Trump her Nobel medal shortly after the United States ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro. But it was largely a symbolic gesture: The Nobel Committee has said the honor itself cannot be transferred.

In Trump’s second term, he has been outspoken about his desire for the Nobel, but has expressed doubts that the committee would ever award him the prize. After Pillay won Friday, Trump alleged without evidence that the prize committee was “crooked,” saying it's “just another sign of how Norway and all these others are ripping off our country.”

Peace prize follows a week of Nobel announcements

Four of this year's Nobels were announced earlier this week, in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry and literature. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organization.

纳维·皮莱于周五在挪威奥斯陆荣获诺贝尔和平奖，以表彰她为促进国际法和正义所做出的努力。这位出生于南非的法学家曾担任联合国人权事务高级专员、国际刑事法院法官和国际法院法官。此前，她领导了一个由联合国支持的委员会，该委员会认定以色列在加沙犯下了种族灭绝罪，但这一结论遭到以色列、唐纳德·特朗普和本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的否认。

85岁的皮莱在德国纽伦堡的一个论坛上得知了这一消息，当时他正在纳粹战争罪行审判的法庭上参加论坛。

加沙委员会还指控哈马斯在 2023 年 10 月 7 日的袭击中犯有战争罪和违反国际人道主义法的行为。

皮莱于 2003 年至 2008 年担任国际刑事法院法官，目前担任国际法院特设法官，审理缅甸种族灭绝案。

特朗普政府实施制裁，冻结了国际刑事法院在美国境内的资产，并给予美国公司和个人六个月的时间终止与该法院的业务往来。

今年的诺贝尔和平奖奖金为 1200 万瑞典克朗，约合 120 万美元。

发布于2026年10月10日下午2:54（韩国标准时间）

10 月 9 日，在宣布获得 2026 年诺贝尔和平奖后，出生于南非的法学家、前联合国人权事务高级专员纳瓦内特姆·“纳维”·皮莱 (Navanethem “Navi” Pillay) 出席了在德国纽伦堡举行的纽伦堡论坛。

挪威奥斯陆——出生于南非的法学家、前联合国人权事务高级专员纳维·皮莱（Navi Pillay）于周五荣获诺贝尔和平奖。她的职业生涯涵盖了从捍卫被监禁的纳尔逊·曼德拉的权利到领导一个小组认定以色列在加沙犯下种族灭绝罪行。诺贝尔和平奖委员会表示，皮莱的努力促进了国际法在遭受攻击之际得到维护。

她的胜选无疑将被视为对美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的公开谴责，两人都拒绝接受她领导的联合国加沙问题委员会的调查结果。此外，这两位领导人也对国际法院和国际刑事法院持强烈批评态度。而皮莱曾在这两个机构工作过。

在挪威宣布这一奖项几个小时后，特朗普政府对国际刑事法院实施了全面的新制裁，这是其为瓦解该法庭而采取的行动的一部分，原因是该法庭对美国及其盟友（包括以色列）进行了调查。

特朗普周五猛烈抨击了这一决定，声称自己才应该获奖，并贬低皮莱是“一个在联合国工作的自由派人士，没人听说过她”。他随后在社交媒体上表示，“她显然仇恨以色列。”

“诺贝尔和平奖已被少数反民主、实为文明敌人的极端意识形态分子永远玷污了，”特朗普在纽约州锡拉丘兹市为共和党候选人举行的一次集会上说。“我们不会忘记，挪威。”

南非裔法学家、前联合国人权事务高级专员纳瓦内特姆·“纳维”·皮莱（中）于10月9日在德国纽伦堡举行的纽伦堡论坛上与国际刑事法院前院长西尔维娅·费尔南德斯·德·古尔门迪以及纽伦堡原则国际学院院长克里斯托夫·萨弗林合影。此前，她被宣布荣获2026年诺贝尔和平奖。美联社-韩联社

在诺贝尔奖设立125周年之际，挪威诺贝尔委员会主席约尔根·瓦特内·弗里德内斯表示：“我们试图提醒世界，法治，无论是国家层面还是国际层面，都是我们为确保和平、以非暴力方式解决冲突而建立的体系的基础。和平需要正义。”

法官“守护着秩序与混乱之间的那条细细的红线”，世界需要“有勇气、有远见、有决心的法官，而纳维·皮莱在她的法官席上展现了这些品质”。

在以色列和种族隔离时期的南非等地，她和她的同行们处理了一些世界上最痛苦、最敏感的法律问题，并帮助了最弱势的群体。

85岁的皮莱在德国纽伦堡参加一个论坛时得知了获奖消息。纽伦堡当年对纳粹战犯的审判奠定了国际法的基础。宣布获奖消息时，她就在当年审判的同一间房间里。

她表示，削弱国际刑事司法的努力“危及纽伦堡审判以来艰苦取得的进展，并有可能使我们回到一个权力而非法律决定谁的苦难才算重要的世界”。

温纳领导的调查认定以色列在加沙犯下了种族灭绝罪。

皮莱担任联合国支持的人权理事会设立的被占领巴勒斯坦领土和以色列问题调查委员会主席。该委员会一年前得出结论，以色列应对加沙的种族灭绝行为负责，其明确意图是消灭加沙的巴勒斯坦人。

皮莱在周五得知自己胜选后，最先谈及的便是加沙问题。“那里正在发生种族灭绝，”她说道，赢得了掌声。

10月9日，巴勒斯坦人在加沙城被以色列空袭摧毁的建筑物中抢救财物。（美联社-韩联社）

该委员会还发现，以色列总统、总理和前国防部长“煽动了种族灭绝行为”。自该委员会于2021年成立以来，以色列一直拒绝与其合作，并强烈否认这些指控。

皮莱多次驳斥了指责她反犹或对哈马斯在以色列的袭击视而不见的批评者。在她领导下，该委员会还发布报告，指控哈马斯在2023年10月7日的袭击中犯有战争罪和违反国际人道主义法的行为。

去年，她在接受美联社采访时回忆起，她如何在故乡南非与一些犹太律师密切合作，反对种族隔离制度，并于 2008 年至 2014 年受邀担任联合国人权事务高级专员访问以色列。

在种族隔离制度下成长的经历，影响了皮莱对人权和法律的关注。从曼德拉担任总统开始，南非政府就公开将种族隔离时期非白人所面临的处境与巴勒斯坦人的困境相提并论。

“我们非常清楚，没有巴勒斯坦人的自由，我们的自由是不完整的，”曼德拉在种族隔离制度结束后不久说道。

诺贝尔奖的宣布对加沙而言又是一个关键时刻，就在两天前，哈马斯领导的“2023”袭击事件发生一周年，该袭击造成约1200人死亡，并引发了这场战争。此后，已有超过74000名巴勒斯坦人丧生，他们的家园满目疮痍。周六是脆弱的停火协议生效一周年纪念日，而以色列的空袭仍在继续。

内塔尼亚胡在 X 上写道，诺贝尔委员会“失去了道德准则”，将最高荣誉授予了“一个靠捏造和传播针对唯一犹太国家的血腥诽谤而建立事业的偏执狂”。

该奖项的宣布距离以色列大选不到三周，内塔尼亚胡正在为保住权力而战。

裁决和制裁再次引发人们对特朗普与法院之间争端的关注。

皮莱的胜诉和美国的新制裁再次引起人们对特朗普与国际刑事法院之间持续争端的关注，皮莱曾在 2003 年至 2008 年担任该法院法官。

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥在一段视频讲话中表示，本届政府将“禁止与这个流氓法庭进行交易，切断其资源，削弱其对抗我们的能力”。

2026年诺贝尔和平奖得主纳瓦内特姆·“纳维”·皮莱在挪威奥斯陆诺贝尔研究所于10月9日宣布获奖者后发表讲话的插图。（图片来源：EPA-Yonhap）

制裁措施冻结了国际刑事法院作为机构在美国司法管辖区内的任何资产，并规定美国公司和个人必须在六个月内终止与该法院的任何业务往来。

鲁比奥宣布这一消息后，诺贝尔委员会没有立即回复寻求置评的电子邮件。

皮莱目前担任联合国最高法院——国际法院的特设法官，审理针对缅甸的种族灭绝案。

当一个国家在国际刑事法院的15名常任法官中没有代表时，它可以指定一名自己选择的专家。冈比亚于2019年启动了诉讼程序，当时该国指控缅甸对罗兴亚少数族裔犯下种族灭绝罪行，冈比亚便选择了皮莱作为专家。

在种族隔离时期的南非，作为一名年轻律师，皮莱的部分工作是为被关押在罗本岛的政治犯确立关键权利，其中包括后来获得诺贝尔和平奖的曼德拉。

种族隔离制度结束后，曼德拉任命皮莱为南非第一位担任高等法院法官的非白人女性。

委内瑞拉反对派领导人去年获胜

去年，委内瑞拉反对派领导人玛丽亚·科琳娜·马查多因其为实现这个南美国家的民主转型而获得的诺贝尔和平奖。

马查多在美国推翻时任总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗后不久，便将她的诺贝尔奖章赠予了特朗普。但这在很大程度上只是一种象征性的姿态：诺贝尔委员会曾表示，这项荣誉本身是不能转让的。

在特朗普的第二个任期内，他曾多次公开表示渴望获得诺贝尔奖，但也对诺贝尔奖委员会是否会授予他该奖项表示怀疑。皮莱周五获奖后，特朗普毫无证据地指责诺贝尔奖委员会“腐败”，称这“再次证明挪威和其他一些国家是如何敲诈我们国家的”。

和平奖的公布紧随诺贝尔奖的一周之后。

本周早些时候，今年的四项诺贝尔奖已经公布，分别授予医学、物理学、化学和文学领域的杰出人士。诺贝尔经济学奖将于下周一公布。

今年的奖金为 1200 万瑞典克朗（约合 120 万美元），无论是颁发给个人、小型获奖团体还是组织。