Human rights lawyer Navi Pillay said winning the Nobel Peace Prize still has not sunk in. She said the award is mainly for the institutions she served and the people she worked with.
Pillay, who turned 85 last month, is the fifth South African and the first South African woman to win the prize. She is only the 21st woman in the world to receive it. The award was announced on 9 October, in the 125th year of the Nobel Peace Prize.
“It’s wonderful for so many reasons, but mainly because the world now really needs to get to grips on making sure that we have justice and peace,” Pillay told Forbes Africa in a Zoom call from The Hague.
She heard the news while attending an international conference in Courtroom 600 at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice in Germany. Nazi leaders were tried in that room after World War II. Her peers gave her a standing ovation.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Pillay had shown “exceptional courage and integrity” in building a stronger global legal order. The committee said the number of wars and conflicts is rising. It also said judges and international courts are under political attack.
Pillay said awards of this kind are rarely given to judges, lawyers or women. “I don’t wish to be the exception or the exceptional woman,” she said. She added that many women and people of colour are overlooked for such honours.
Israel sharply criticised the award, according to Forbes Africa. Hours after the announcement, the Trump administration reportedly placed new sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), cutting off its resources.
Pillay said judges decide cases on evidence and do not act on personal beliefs. “I am very pleased to join all those who support the cause of the rule of law, international justice and particularly the ICC,” she said.
Durban peace activist Ela Gandhi, founder of the Natal Organisation of Women, praised Pillay. She told Forbes Africa the award is a call to the world to respect international law and uphold peace with justice.
Pillay grew up in Clairwood in Durban as the daughter of a bus driver. In 1967 she became the first non-White woman to open her own law practice in Natal. In 1995 she became the first woman of colour to serve as a judge in South Africa’s High Court.
She later served as a judge and then president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. From 2003 to 2008 she was a judge at the ICC. She was then appointed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In 2019 she became an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice. From 2021 to 2025 she chaired the UN commission of inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The Nobel Peace Prize website said her influence was a big factor when the Rwanda tribunal found that rape and sexual violence could be a crime against humanity and genocide.
Pillay said women suffer the most in wars, economic crises, droughts and floods. She said the levels of rape and killings of women in South Africa are “just unconscionable now”. She said the president has declared it a national disaster.
Asked about her plans, Pillay said she will keep playing a role wherever she is needed. “I tell them that I will stop when the human rights violations end,” she said.
Pillay will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, on 10 December.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Forbes Africa. Image: Forbes Africa. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.