Navi Pillay, an outspoken supporter of international law who has served as a judge on multiple global courts and as the UN’s top human rights official, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
Why it matters: President Trump once again did not win the prize he has openly coveted.
- Pillay, among other posts, previously served on the International Criminal Court — a body Trump sanctioned and last month called “rogue” and “evil.”
What they’re saying: “The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 goes to a person who with exceptional courage and integrity has led the way towards a more comprehensive global legal order,” the prize committee said in a social media post.
- This year’s laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.”
Background: Besides the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Pillay also served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and as chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
- Pillay, 85 and a native of South Africa, began practicing law in the late 1960s and served on her country’s high court before her international appointments.
- Pillay stands for many of the ideas and institutions Trump has condemned.
- Besides sanctioning the ICC, he withdrew the U.S. from the UN Human Rights Council last year.
- He’s also made a target of South Africa and its Black government, promising asylum to white South African farmers.
The big picture: The Nobel Peace Prize is Trump’s white whale, an honor he talks about constantly and has frequently insisted he should have won.
- Last year’s winner, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, gave Trump her prize medal earlier this year — though the Norwegian Nobel Institute made clear the prize itself could not actually be transferred.
Trump had not yet responded publicly to the award as of early Friday morning.
The Nobel committee denied it was taking a stance on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza by awarding Pillay, who led a UN inquiry on the subject, after Israel said honouring her legitimised “anti-Israel hatred”.
Pillay, currently a judge on the International Court of Justice in a case where Myanmar also stands accused of genocide, has been “instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted”, said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.
Pillay headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body, and which last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza.
The UN said the prize for Pillay was testimony to the “value” of rights.
But Israel on Friday slammed the announcement saying that awarding Pillay legitimised “anti-Israel hatred” and that Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be “applauding from hell”.
“It’s her report, the Commission’s report, and of course we have great faith in her professionalism, in her integrity, but that work is of a UN inquiry commission,” Watne Frydnes told AFP adding that it was up to international courts to rule on the issue.
Axios/AFP
