Former ICC Judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize

Navanethem Pillay, the former judge at the International Criminal Court, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “her efforts to promote peace and international law.”

Pillay was the one who oversaw a United Nations report that concluded Israel committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee stated that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize highlighted the importance of preserving a rules-based international order.

Pillay has served as a judge at several international tribunals, including the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court has long been a target of Donald Trump, whose campaign against it has intensified since the court issued arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said, “The international law system is under immense pressure, and its institutions are under attack.”

It added, “We are witnessing a shift toward power politics at the expense of legal frameworks, global respect for law and justice. Whenever power overwhelms right, it undermines stability, trust, and peaceful coexistence.”

The committee did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump or Israel.

Pillay also chaired the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded last year that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the commission’s findings, describing them as “shameful.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres congratulated Pillay on winning the prize, describing it as an honor for all those working to uphold and defend international law.

In a post on the X platform, he said, “She has shown that the rule of law must prevail over the law of force, and that defending human rights is the surest guarantee against injustice.”

He added, “Today’s prize is an honor for all those working to strengthen international law and the rule of law, to defend human rights, and to entrench peace, justice, and human dignity.”

Israel condemned the awarding of the prize to Pillay.

Daniel Meiron, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told Reuters, “The Nobel Committee’s decision is shameful and constitutes support for anti-Semites like Pillay herself.”

He added, “As head of the commission of inquiry, she led campaigns aimed at undermining Israel’s very existence. Campaigns that exonerate terrorism and distort reality to serve a known political agenda.”

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, head of the awarding committee, said the committee wanted the world to remember that the rule of law is the foundation of the international system established to ensure peace, and that this system is under “immense pressure.”

He told Reuters, “Of course, the strongest countries bear a special responsibility, but unfortunately, we see this all over the world.”

He continued, “Institutions are under attack. Many judges are facing sanctions.”

The committee noted that Pillay has held state leaders accountable and brought hope to victims of violence and conflict, demonstrating a steady moral compass throughout her long career.

The committee added, “There is a common thread running from the beginning of her career defending Nelson Mandela and others who fought against apartheid to her work as a judge in some of the most significant cases of international courts in our time.”

The Hague-based International Criminal Court is facing an escalating campaign from U.S. President Donald Trump, who urged countries last month to withdraw from it.

Washington has already imposed targeted sanctions on several prosecutors and judges at the court, and sources say it is considering broader sanctions in response to the court’s targeting of Israeli leaders.

Håkon Wium Steen, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said the committee was not directly criticizing Trump by awarding the prize to Pillay.

He added, “I believe that, overall, the move aims to strengthen a global international system based on the rule of law. Of course, awarding the prize to a figure who was previously a member of the International Criminal Court may provoke a reaction from Trump, but it does not constitute a direct attack on him.”

The Peace Prize is the fifth Nobel Prize awarded this week, following the prizes in Literature, Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Peace Prize in 2025.

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.2 million), will be presented in Oslo on December 10, marking the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who established the prizes in his will in 1895.