Navi Pillay urges leaders to protect rights after winning 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay on Friday urged political leaders to meet their “legal obligation” to protect human rights and avoid war, warning that international law and human rights were facing a serious political attack. Speaking hours after being named the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, the South African jurist of Indian origin said states must uphold the principles of the UN Charter and their duties under international law.

Pillay dedicated the award to survivors of international crimes and to those defending international justice. She said their “compassion and courage continue to ensure that impunity will not be allowed to reign”, while also warning that attempts to weaken international criminal justice could undo progress made over decades.

“My message to leaders, political leaders, is that you are under legal obligation,” Pillay said. “No matter what other obligation you have morally, you have a legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war.” She added: “That is an obligation I call upon every state to fulfill.”

The 85-year-old jurist said, “We are living through an era when international law and human rights are under significant political attack,” and pointed in particular to attacks on the Criminal Court. She is a former UN human rights chief whose work helped shape international law on genocide and sexual violence, and is also serving as a judge in a case at the Court of Justice.

In separate remarks after the Nobel announcement, Pillay referred to the Gaza report as her most recent work and said it had named what was happening there as genocide. She had chaired the UN commission of inquiry that concluded in September 2025 that Israeli authorities and security forces had committed and were continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel rejected the commission’s findings.

Pillay learnt of the award while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany, where Nazi leaders were tried after World War II. She said it was fitting that the announcement came while she was in Courtroom 600, where the trials were held. She warned that efforts to weaken international criminal justice threatened to reverse the gains made since those trials. “They risk returning us to a world in which power rather than law determines whose suffering matters,” she said.

She added, “This award strengthens my conviction that we must stand together in defense of the rule of law, in defense of independent courts, and an international legal order based on principle rather than selectivity.” Pillay said she had served in institutions including South Africa’s High Court, the Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Criminal Court and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Asked about her work in international law, Pillay said she was proud of the Rwanda tribunal’s recognition of rape and sexual violence as international crimes. She called it “outrageous” that sexual violence against women and children in conflict was treated as “collateral damage or as reward for the hard fighting soldiers”. Pillay was one of the judges in the landmark case against Jean-Paul Akayesu, a former mayor convicted by the Rwanda tribunal of genocide, crimes against humanity and direct and public incitement to commit genocide. The tribunal’s 1998 judgment recognised that rape and sexual violence could constitute acts of genocide when committed with the required intent, as well as crimes against humanity.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Pillay the 2026 Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law, highlighting her role in strengthening the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. On Friday, Pillay used the moment to press leaders and states to defend human rights, independent courts and the rule of law.

With PTI Inputs

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