OSLO, Oct 9 — Navi Pillay, a former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge who oversaw a United Nations (UN) report that concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday "for her efforts to promote peace and international law".
In its citation, the committee said that this year's Nobel Peace Prize underlined the importance of maintaining an organised international order.
"The system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack.
"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," it said.
Born in Durban, South Africa's Natal province, to an Indian Tamil family, Navi, 85, has served as a judge on several international courts, including the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
She was also chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that concluded last year that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel dismissed the report as "scandalous".
Navi has also served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 1967, she became the first woman to start a law practice in Natal and the first non-white woman to serve on South Africa's High Court.
'Firm moral compass'
The committee added that she held states and national leaders accountable, brought hope to victims of violence and conflict, and demonstrated a firm moral compass throughout her long career.
"A common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time," it said.
The Hague-based ICC has been the target of an escalating campaign by United States President Donald Trump, who urged countries to leave it last month.
Washington has already imposed targeted sanctions on several prosecutors and judges at the court and, according to sources, is considering wider sanctions in retaliation for the targeting of Israeli leaders.
Peace Research Institute Oslo acting director Haakon Gjerløw said that the committee was not directly criticising Trump by rewarding Pillay.
"I think it is generally rather a promotion of an international legal world order. Of course, he might react to someone who has been part of the ICC, but it's not a direct attack on Trump," he said.
The peace prize is the fifth Nobel awarded this week, after literature, chemistry, physics, and medicine. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won in 2025.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish crowns (RM4.91 million), is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
