South African human rights lawyer and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions to international justice and human rights.
Born in Durban in 1941, Pillay grew up under apartheid and became one of South Africa’s pioneering women lawyers of Indian descent. She defended anti-apartheid activists and challenged discriminatory prison conditions.
Following the end of apartheid, she served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where her work contributed to landmark legal recognition of sexual violence as a potential act of genocide. She later served as a judge at the International Criminal Court and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
Pillay also played a prominent role in international discussions on human rights in Sri Lanka.
During a 2013 visit to Sri Lanka, Pillay met government officials, civil society groups and human rights defenders, raising concerns about accountability for alleged wartime abuses, intimidation of journalists and activists, and the rule of law.
More recently, she chaired a UN commission investigating human rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories. (DW/Newswire)