Navi Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, Friday.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that the South African jurist received the award “for her efforts to promote peace and international law.”

“There is a common thread running from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who opposed apartheid to her work as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Frydnes highlighted that Pillay has worked to hold states and their leaders accountable for their actions while offering hope to victims.

He warned that international law is coming under tremendous pressure and that what he described as a “power politics” is gaining ground.

“When force prevails over reason, it undermines stability,” he added.

Frydnes described Pillay's commitment to justice and human dignity as a source of hope and inspiration for those seeking to build a more peaceful world.

Born into a Tamil family in Durban in 1941 under the apartheid regime, Navanethem "Navi" Pillay became the first woman to open a law practice in the province of Natal, South Africa, in 1967.

The daughter of a bus driver, she was raised in a poor neighborhood in Durban, a city on South Africa's eastern coast.

Pillay began her human rights defense work during apartheid. She was the first non-white woman to open her own law firm and to be appointed a judge of the High Court of South Africa.

After defending numerous anti-apartheid opponents, Pillay was elected by the United Nations General Assembly as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

She served on that tribunal for eight years, four of them as president.

Until recently, Pillay chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

She also serves as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice in the case where Myanmar is accused of genocide.

Pillay served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2008 and 2014.

This year's award carries a prize of 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.3 million).

The Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony is scheduled for December 10 in Oslo, Norway, marking the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, founder of the awards.