South African jurist and human rights champion Navi Pillay has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her extensive efforts in promoting peace and international law.

South African jurist and human rights champion Navi Pillay has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her extensive efforts in promoting peace and international law.

South African jurist and human rights champion Navi Pillay has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her extensive efforts in promoting peace and international law.

A new name has been added to the Nobel Peace laureates list, with the Peace Prize awarded for the 107th time since its inception in 1901. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose South African jurist Navanetham Navi Pillay as the awardee “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was the last person to win the award in 2025.

Who is Navi Pillay?

Navi Pillay was born in 1941 to an Indian Tamil family under the apartheid system in Durban, South Africa. She later became a praised jurist, known for defending anti-apartheid activists.

In 1967, she became the first woman to open a law practice in South Africa’s Natal Province. Nelson Mandela nominated Pillay in 1995 to the High Court of South Africa and she became the first woman of colour to serve as a judge.

Four years down the line, Pillay served as the judge and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). She then served as a judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In 2008, Pillay was appointed as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. As the high commissioner, she openly criticised the Sri Lankan government for being an authoritarian state and condemned the atrocities committed against Tamil civilians during the Sri Lankan civil war. During the 2014 Gaza war, she maintained that Israel and Hamas had both violated international law.

In 2019, she was an ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case in which Myanmar stands accused of genocide.

Pillay also chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 2021 to 2025.

The Nobel Peace Prize is worth about $1.2 million and will be presented in Oslo on December 10, the death anniversary of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in 1895.

There are six Nobel prizes awarded every year in the fields of physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, economic sciences, literature and peace work.

This year had a total of 287 candidates: 208 individuals and 79 organisations, according to the Nobel Committee. The last prize will be announced on October 18 between 5 am and 7 am Eastern Time or 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm IST. The announcements are made from Oslo and Stockholm and are livestreamed on the official pages of the Nobel Prize organisations.