Global leaders hail South African jurist Pillay after Nobel Peace Prize win

South African jurist and human rights champion Navi Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her work against war crimes and crimes against humanity, drawing praise from global leaders and international institutions.

Pillay, 85, headed the tribunal investigating the 1994 Rwandan genocide and presided over a UN commission that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the award a “profound tribute to the veteran jurist's courage, integrity and lifelong commitment to justice”.

It “allows us to celebrate the progressive contributions she has made to strengthen peace, uphold human dignity and bring hope in South Africa and to peoples globally,” Ramaphosa said.

Pillay is the fifth South African to receive the prize.

What other global leaders are saying

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Pillay for confronting “some of humanity's darkest chapters”.

“She has looked the brutality of injustice in the eye and never looked away. She is the defender of the persecuted, the vulnerable, the voiceless and the excluded,” von der Leyen wrote on X.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the award reaffirmed that “human rights, the rule of law and justice, and accountability are fundamental to everything, to peace, to security, and prosperity”.

International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane said the recognition was significant amid challenges to international law.

“At a time of profound challenges to the international legal order and the rule of law, this recognition carries particular significance,” Akane said.

Trump joke

Pillay also joked about US President Donald Trump's much-publicised desire to win the award.

“If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump,” she said in a video posted on X by Amnesty International's secretary-general, showing her being applauded after the announcement.

Pillay has held senior international justice and human rights roles, including as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as UN high commissioner for human rights.