Extract from ABC News
Navanethem "Navi" Pillay reacts to being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In short:
Judge Navanethem "Navi" Pillay has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
The South African-born former UN human rights chief was recognised for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee described her as a source of hope for all those who seek a more peaceful world.
The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Judge Navanethem "Navi" Pillay for significantly enlarging the scope and impact of international law.
The South African-born former UN human rights chief was recognised for her efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Ms Pillay, 85, served as a judge at the International Criminal Court, the High Court of South Africa and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
She was the first non-white woman to serve on South Africa's High Court.
Navi Pillay visits the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, Poland, during her tenure as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (Reuters: Mateusz Skwarczes via Agencja Gazeta)
She was also chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that last year found that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel dismissed the report as "scandalous".
Her work "is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world," Mr Watne Frydnes said, announcing her win.
Ms Pillay has already dedicated the award "to all of the survivors of international crimes".
"This award strengthens my conviction that we must stand together in defence of the rule of law, in defence of independent courts, and an international legal order based on principle," she said after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
She said world leaders had a "legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war".
Navanethem "Navi" Pillay dedicated the Nobel Peace Prize to "to all of the survivors of international crimes" in Nuremberg on Friday. (Dpa: Daniel Karmann via AP)
When the committee first announced the recipient, it had not yet been able to reach Ms Pillay to inform her she had received the peace prize.
Ms Pillay heard the news while attending a forum in Nuremberg where she joked that she might "share the prize" with US President Donald Trump.
"If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump," Ms Pillay said while being applauded at an event in Nuremberg.
"Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify this."
Navi Pillay on a visit to Sri Lanka when she was UN Human Rights Commissioner in 2013. (Reuters: Dinuka Liyanawatte)
Global praise for Ms Pillay as Israel condemns award
The award is often considered the most prestigious honour on the planet.
"At a time when the number of wars and conflicts is rising, and when judges and institutions of international law are under political attack, the Nobel Committee wishes to issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence is dependent on the international rule of law," the committee wrote in a news release.
"An international legal system in which war criminals are held to account, and the victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo received nominations for 287 candidates for this year's prize.
Experts say the committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals.
Praise and recognition of Ms Pillay's work has been rolling in from around the world, including from UN human rights chief Volker Turk who described Ms Pillay's award as "a collective win for human rights and for all those seeking justice and accountability".
Navi Pillay is holding onto hope (and the rule of law).
"It's clear that we need international criminal accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, and it's clear that we have a very strong signal that this is absolutely critical in today's world," he said.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Ms Pillay for confronting "some of humanity's darkest chapters", while South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said the award was a "profound tribute to the veteran jurist's courage, integrity and lifelong commitment to justice".
But Israel's Foreign Ministry said the award had "legitimised anti-Israel hatred and prejudice".
“If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner," it said in a statement.
Pillay 'entirely focused on the law', colleague tells ABC
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has won the Nobel Peace Prize. (Fabrice Coffrini, Getty Images)
Chris Sidoti, a human rights lawyer who worked together with Ms Pillay on the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, described her as "a modest, unassuming lovely and very funny person".
"I doubt there has ever been a Nobel Peace Prize recipient more deserving of it than Navi," he told the ABC.
"She's not running a political agenda. She never has.
"She is entirely focused on the law.
"And as an unassuming dedicated, highly committed but extraordinarily intelligent person, what she does has always carried weight, whether it's in the courts in South Africa, in the apartheid period, or as High Commissioner for Human Rights or in international criminal tribunals or as chair of our Commission of Inquiry on Palestine and Israel."
Human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti says Ms Pillay is a very deserving recipient.
Committee not making 'direct attack on Trump'
Navi Pillay was a former UN Human Rights Commissioner. (Reuters: Ruben Sprich)
"At a time of profound challenges to the international legal order and the rule of law, this recognition carries particular significance," said ICC President Tomoko Akane in a statement congratulating Ms Pillay.
The Hague-based ICC has been the target of an escalating campaign by US President Donald Trump, who last month urged countries to leave it.
Acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo Haakon Gjerloew said the committee was not directly criticising Mr Trump by rewarding Ms Pillay, a former judge on it.
"I think it's 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 Nobel Peace Prize, often considered the most prestigious award, was announced in Oslo, Norway. (AP: Angela Weiss/Pool Photo File)
Last year, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in the South American nation, winning recognition as a woman "who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness".
Ms Machado gave Mr Trump her Nobel medal shortly after the United States ousted then-president Nicolás Maduro. But it was largely a symbolic gesture: the Nobel Committee has said the honour itself cannot be transferred.
Nobel prizes awarded this week
Four of this year's Nobel prizes were announced earlier this week. The Nobel for medicine went to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works.
The physics award recognised a scientist's efforts to demystify a rare type of neutrino.
The chemistry prize recognised two scientists for untangling the mystery of mirror-image molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs.
Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson won the literature prize for "bold and inventive" works that fuse the classical and the modern and blur the boundaries of poetry and prose.
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.
The prize money is 12 million Swedish kronor ($1.718 million).
ABC/AP
No comments:
Post a Comment