Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize for justice in The Hague
South African jurist Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in The Hague. The honor recognizes her decades of work prosecuting war crimes and defending human rights across global courts. She previously defended Nelson Mandela and led a panel that found Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
Pillay, 85, learned of the award at a legal forum in Nuremberg, Germany. That German city hosted the historic trials of Nazi war criminals. Those proceedings helped lay the foundations of modern international law.
Her win brings renewed focus to political pressure on the International Criminal Court. Pillay served as an ICC judge from 2003 to 2008. The court handles serious international offenses including war crimes, genocide, aggression and crimes against humanity.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused the international tribunal of being anti-American. His administration sanctioned 13 staff members. The sanctions targeted nine judges, including court President Tomoko Akane of Japan.
Trump urged member nations to quit the institution during a speech last month. He delivered those remarks directly to the United Nations General Assembly. Judges at the court have convicted 11 people since its creation in 2002.
Pillay was involved in the case against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga. The court convicted Lubanga in 2012 for conscripting child soldiers into armed conflict. He received a 14-year prison sentence.
Pillay left that bench in 2008 to serve as U.N. human rights chief. She returned to The Hague in 2019 to join the International Court of Justice. She sits as an ad hoc judge in an ongoing genocide case against Myanmar.
Gambia selected Pillay when it accused Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya minority group. The ICJ serves as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. All 193 member states belong to the court.
Pillay previously led the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The United Nations created that tribunal to prosecute perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Pillay said the tribunal achieved a milestone by prosecuting sexual violence as a war crime.
Pillay spoke to reporters on Friday regarding the Rwanda cases.
Sexual violence is often seen as collateral damage or even as a reward for soldiers in times of conflict. We finally recognized that as an international crime in the Rwandan tribunal. I am proud of that.
The International Court of Justice operates in The Hague to settle legal disputes between sovereign nations. Countries without a permanent judge on the panel may appoint an outside legal expert. Certain international bodies may also request formal legal opinions from the bench.
The Rwandan tribunal was the first international court to prosecute genocide codified following the Holocaust. Pillay will soon rule on whether that genocide definition applies to Myanmar.
