Nobel Peace Prize goes to Navi Pillay for her efforts to promote international law

South African human rights lawyer Navanethem "Navi" Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.

Born in 1941 in Durban, Pillay grew up under apartheid and became one of South Africa's first women of Indian descent to practice law. She defended anti-apartheid activists and fought against discriminatory prison conditions.

After apartheid, she became a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she helped establish landmark legal precedents recognizing rape as an act of genocide. She later served as a judge at the International Criminal Court and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.