1:11 Nobel peace prize winner Navi Pillay jokes about sharing award with Donald Trump – video Nobel peace prize ICJ judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel peace prize for promoting international law Committee recognises work of South African who chaired UN commission that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza
Prefer the Guardian on Google The Nobel peace prize has been awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African former UN human rights chief who chaired the UN commission that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza .
The Norwegian Nobel committee said Pillay, who is serving as a judge at the international court of justice (ICJ), has “shown that legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence”.
“Navi Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career,” the committee said, mentioning her early work defending Nelson Mandela under South Africa’s apartheid regime, serving on the international criminal tribunal, and then as the UN high commissioner for human rights, as well as chairing the UN independent international commission of inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory.
That commission concluded last year that the state of Israel was guilty of genocidal acts in Gaza “with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza”, and said the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, its president, Isaac Herzog, and its former defence minister Yoav Gallant had “incited the commission of genocide”.
“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the genocide convention,” Pillay said on the publication of the commission’s findings in September last year.
Israel refused to cooperate with the commission, arguing it was biased, and rejected its report as “scandalous”. The Israeli foreign ministry reacted furiously to news of Pillay’s award on Friday.
“If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner,” the ministry said on X , adding: “Awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t a recognition of justice. It’s the grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.
“Now that the Nobel commission has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is certainly applauding from hell.”
In its statement , the Nobel committee said Pillay, 85, had “contributed to strengthen the institutions of international law”.
“Her independence, expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time,” the committee said.
“In awarding this year’s Nobel peace prize , the Norwegian Nobel committee wants to remind the world that the rule of law – national and international – underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts non-violently,” its statement said.
The committee said it had not been able to locate Pillay before its announcement on Friday morning. She was attending a meeting of human rights lawyers and jurists in Nuremberg, Germany, at the site of postwar war crimes trials of Nazi leaders, and heard the news from colleagues. She responded with disbelief.
“I don’t know about it so much. The question is: is it true? Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify it,” she said.
“The last thing I did was the report on Gaza naming what’s happening there as genocide,” Pillay added. “One of the main reactions to tha…