The South African jurist Navi Pillay, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is one of the most distinguished human rights lawyers and judges of the past few decades. Early in her extraordinary career, she embodied the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, where she defended anti-apartheid activists. As a judge in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and in the International Criminal Court (ICC), she embodied the development of international criminal law, helping to advance accountability for crimes and shape the human rights system. As UN high commissioner for human rights, and later as chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Palestine, she documented violations, supported mechanisms for protecting rights, and scrutinised states’ responsibility for violations – culminating in the commission’s 2025 finding that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
By granting Pillay the prize, the Nobel committee has infuriated Israel, which had called for the commission to be abolished following its finding of genocide, and it has rebuffed President Donald Trump, who had made no secret of his desire to win the prize.