South Africa's Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay Wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

Former UN human rights chief and International Court of Justice judge Navanethem "Navi" Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions to international law, the Nobel jury announced on Friday in Oslo, Norway.

Issued on: 09/10/2026 - 11:03Modified: 09/10/2026 - 11:25

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FRANCE 24

Former United Nations (UN) rights chief Navi Pillay poses during a photo session in Johannesburg on January 20, 2023. © Wikus de Wet, AFP

The South Africa-born Pillay, 85 years old, was recognised for her efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Pillay’s work “is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world,” Watne Frydnes said announcing her win.

Watne Frydnes said the committee had not yet been able to reach Pillay to inform her she had received the peace prize, which is often considered the most prestigious honor 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, and just over a quarter of them are organisations. 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.

Last year, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won 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”.

Machado gave US President Donald Trump her Nobel medal shortly after the United States ousted then-president Nicolas Maduro. But it was largely a symbolic gesture: the Nobel Committee has said the honour itself cannot be transferred.

Four of this year's Nobels 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 recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos. The chemistry prize recognised two scientists for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs.

Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson won the literature prize Thursday for “bold and inventive” works that fuse the classical and the modern and blur the boundaries of poetry and prose.

Read moreNobel Prize in Literature awarded to Canada’s Anne Carson

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organisation.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the peace prize, which so far has gone to 112 individuals and 28 separate institutions since its inception in 1901. The Red Cross has won three times and the UN refugee agency twice.

Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Canada’s Anne Carson

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Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to France's Henri Kagan, Japan's Kenso Soai

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