Pillay has been a judge on South Africa’s High Court, Rwanda tribunal and the ICC
Navi Pillay, the South African human rights lawyer awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, once defended Nelson Mandela and other apartheid-era activists and is working on an ongoing genocide case against Rwanda at the International Criminal Court.
Pillay has been a judge on the High Court in South Africa, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee highlighted Pillay’s “commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass” in awarding her the peace prize. “This year’s laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted,” the Nobel committee said in a statement.
A former commission of Pillay’s at the United Nations concluded that Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza.
Reacting to news of the award, Pillay joked, “If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump.”
President Donald Trump said Friday that he should have won the Nobel Peace Prize and criticized Norway over what he called a “disgraceful and embarrassing” decision. Trump, who has long coveted the award, spoke at length about the Nobel committee’s decision during a rally in Syracuse, New York.
“The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel peace prize, but didn’t,” Trump said at the rally. “And this is an indelible stain on the country of Norway, and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision.”
Trump repeated claims that he solved eight wars and added that he “should have won eight Nobel Peace Prizes.”
“The Nobel peace prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilization,” the president added. “We will not forget, Norway, that you didn’t give this prize.”
Norway does not choose the Nobel Peace Prize winner. The choice is made by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a five-person panel that is legally barred from including members of the government.