The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Navi Pillay, a South African human rights lawyer and judge.
The prize committee said Pillay was “instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted” and had “significantly enlarged the scope and impact of international law.”
She has served multiple international legal bodies, including as a judge for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and as the United Nations’ longest-serving high commissioner for human rights. CFR’s David Scheffer, who has known Pillay since she was appointed to lead the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in the 1990s, called her the “natural choice” for the prize.
“Throughout her long career she has been a jurist of impeccable integrity and historic consequence,” Scheffer said.
Born in apartheid South Africa to a family of Tamil Indian origin, Pillay spent her life breaking barriers. She was the first South African to earn a doctorate from Harvard Law School, and began her career defending Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists. She would later become the first non-white woman to open her own legal practice in South Africa’s Natal province and to serve on the country’s high court.
The Nobel committee also noted Pillay’s contributions to setting landmark legal precedents. Her work on the Rwanda tribunal established that rape and sexual violence could constitute a crime against humanity and genocide, and that spreading propaganda could result in charges of inciting genocide.
In awarding the prize to Pillay, the Nobel committee underscored the importance of international law at a time when it is under “tremendous pressure.”
Hours after the award was announced, the United States imposed new sanctions on the ICC that could sever the court from the U.S. financial system. President Donald Trump, during his address to the UN General Assembly last month, had urged nations to withdraw from the body. Trump said the ICC infringes on U.S. sovereignty.
Scheffer told the Daily Brief the U.S. sanctions were “a final red line” between the international courts and an administration that has distanced itself from them.
The Israeli prime minister’s office separately rebuked the Nobel committee for honoring Pillay. Last year, Pillay oversaw a UN commission report that said Israel’s actions in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war amounted to genocide. Israel had rejected the conclusion.
Speaking to reporters today, Pillay said she was dedicating her award to “all of the survivors of international crimes.”
That’s all for this week. We’ll be back Monday.
