The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year to an individual or organization that has worked to achieve lasting international peace. This year’s winner is Navanethem (“Navi”) Pillay, a human rights lawyer and judge. Here, btw takes a closer look at Pillay’s inspiring life and career.
What is the Nobel Peace Prize?
First awarded 125 years ago, the Nobel Peace Prize is named for Alfred Nobel, the Swedish scientist who, after his death, donated his fortune to establish a variety of recognitions and monetary awards. (Today the Nobel prize committee awards prizes in sciences, literature, economics, medicine, and peace.)
In his will, Nobel stated that the peace prize should be given to the person or organization who has done the most to promote peace between nations. The idea of peace has been defined differently over the years, with the prize going to politicians, humanitarians, climate change activists, and members of organized peace movements. Since World War II, the peace prize has focused on awarding efforts in four major areas: disarmament, peace negotiation, democracy and human rights, and work aimed at creating a more organized and peaceful world.
Who is Navi Pillay?
Navi Pillay was born in South Africa in 1941, to an Indian Tamil family, under apartheid (legalized segregation). Her grandparents were brought to South Africa from India in the 1890s to work as indentured servants on sugar plantations. The neighborhood where Pillay grew up was predominantly Indian and very poor. But Pillay’s parents made sure that their daughter got a good education.
Pillay attended the University of Natal and received her Bachelor of Laws in 1965. After that, she joined the legal defense against apartheid and was the first woman in Natal to start her own law firm. She later received her doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in 1982 (the first South African to do so).
A Defender of Justice
Pillay has spent her life and career using the law to help prevent war and violence, and to protect basic human rights. She is a lawyer and judge who defends people who stand up against injustices and violations of human rights. Most famously, she defended Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist and first Black president of South Africa.
Pillay is also a judge and has ruled on some of the most significant international court cases in recent history. Currently, she is a judge on the International Court of Justice, trying the nation of Myanmar for genocide. She was also the first non-white female on the High Court of South Africa; President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; and the International Criminal Court. She is the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and has been the chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Why Did She Receive the Prize?
By honoring Pillay with its 2026 prize, the Nobel Committee recognized that global peace cannot be achieved without creating and upholding a framework of international laws to support it. That’s because the people in power change might change over time, but laws do not. The committee emphasized that the rule of law should triumph over conflict and violence. Navi Pillay’s career serves as a reminder of the importance of global law to ensure lasting peace.