Nobel Peace Prize to the jurist who certified the genocide in Gaza

Few hours after Navanethem Pillay was announced as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the United States imposed sanctions against the International Criminal Court. "We will prohibit transactions with this court, cutting off its resources and paralyzing its operational capacity," the Department of State assured in a statement. The move is supposed to be another step in Washington's pursuit against the body that guarantees international law to which Pillay was a part. A total of 125 countries make up the ICC, but this is not the case for the United States. The White House has widely criticized the arrest warrants issued by this court against Benjamin Netanyahu for the offensive in Gaza, and the Trump administration has the intention of dismantling the organization. The court considers that the sanctions of this kind constitute "an attack on the rule of law" that seeks to "disrupt" its functioning and "intimidate" everyone who works in it. Nobel Peace Prize to the jurist who certified the genocide in Gaza The South African jurist Navanethem Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2026 for her efforts to promote peace and international law. The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded her the prize for her "courage and integrity" in defending international justice, a commitment she considers "gives hope and is an inspiration to those who want a world in peace." Specializing in human rights, Pillay is one of the most prominent figures in the defense of international justice: she was appointed by the United Nations as a High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2008 and 2014 and served as a judge at the International Criminal Court. The Norwegian Nobel Committee highlights that Pillay's role as a judge in international proceedings demonstrates that "legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence," and to guarantee the criminal prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity and genocides. The South African jurist served as a judge at the international tribunal that investigated the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and last year she headed a United Nations commission that determined that Israel had committed a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, a conclusion that the Israeli government rejects. "Israel must immediately stop and reverse its confiscation and use of Palestinian lands in Gaza, including the creation and expansion of the protection zone and corridors," Pillay demanded as chair of the commission. The report, contradicting Israeli attacks in Gaza, concluded that the Israeli executive has "a clear intention" to establish permanent control over Gaza and ensure a majority in the West Bank. With a long history of evaluating international conflicts, the South African jurist assured that the conflict in Gaza is "the most horrific" she has analyzed. Once it became known that she was not the winner, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told X that the Nobel committee "has lost its moral compass," and described Pillay as "a fanatic" who "invented and spread blood libel against the only Jewish state." Furthermore, the Israeli Foreign Ministry even recalled one of Adolf Hitler's closest collaborators: "Joseph Goebbels is applauding from hell," he wrote to X. Pillay's commitment to justice comes from afar, and she began her life in her South Africa with the fight against discrimination and segregation. Daughter of a family from Sri Lanka, she was the first Black woman to open a law firm in her home province, from where she defended numerous political prisoners arrested without trial, many of them activists against the apartheid system that was applied to South Africa between 1948 and 1994. Years later, she was also one of the first non-Black women appointed as judges of the Supreme Court of South Africa. "There is a common thread from her initial work in defending Nelson Mandela and others who opposed apartheid until her service as a judge in some of the most important international judicial cases of our time," highlights the Norwegian Nobel Committee. First sentence for genocide Pillay specializes in human rights and international law, and between 1995 and 2003 she was a judge at the International Criminal Court for Rwanda, where she presided over the first conviction for genocide. The sentence was also decisive in ensuring justice for the victims of sexual violence in conflicts: it established that rape can be considered an act of genocide. In 1999, she was unanimously elected President of the International Criminal Court, a position she held until 2003, when she became a judge at the same court in The Hague. Five years later, she made the leap to the United Nations as a High Commissioner for Human Rights, the supreme responsibility in this area within the international organization system. As a High Commissioner, she denounced human rights violations in conflicts such as those in Syria, Gaza, and Sri Lanka, and promoted the prosecution of war crimes and the defense of the rights of women and minorities. After leaving the UN, Pillay continued to be active in defending human rights, for example as an ad hoc judge in proceedings at the International Court of Justice and as president of the International Commission against Torture. After the previous year's award was marked by Trump's pressure for them to grant it—finally it was for the leader of the Venezuelan opposition María Corina Machado—this year is also a recognition of international justice and the bodies dedicated to guaranteeing it at a time of questioning multilateralism by leaders like Donald Trump and open investigations in conflicts like that in Gaza and the war in Ukraine for possible war crimes. "At a time when international legal order and the rule of law face many challenges, this recognition has a very important meaning," said the President of the International Criminal Court, Tomoko Akane.