The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to South African lawyer Navi Pillay, an honorary graduate of Durham University, for her efforts to promote international law.
Ms Pillay, 85, was named the new Nobel laureate on Friday. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said she won the prize for her work to promote international law. Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the committee, said her work “is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world” and that winning was a message to those seeking to undermine “the international rules-based system and the institutions”.
Durham connections
Ms Pillay was made an honorary doctor of civil law by Durham University in 2007. She is also a former chair of Durham Law School’s Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice and provided the foreword for the book Rethinking Rape Law International and Comparative Perspectives, co-written by current Durham academic Prof Clare McGlynn.
Prof McGlynn paid tribute to Ms Pillay, saying: “Navi Pillay is a legal pioneer who ensured the world recognised rape as a form of genocide. She has worked tirelessly to encourage lawyers, academics and students around the world, including in her inspirational address at the Durham University conference on Rethinking Rape Law, to strive for legal recognition of women’s rights and the pursuit of justice.”
Another Durham academic, Prof Michael Bohlander, added: “Dr Navi Pillay's career has been one continuous crusade for justice, beginning in her native South Africa and culminating at the highest international levels of justice and human rights protections. Her courage and total lack of fear in the face of opposition from powerful people are qualities which serve as a shining example of what the rule of law is about.”
Career and reaction
Ms Pillay’s career has included defending the rights of imprisoned Nelson Mandela during Apartheid-era South Africa. The Nobel Prize Committee said in her citation: “Navi Pillay is one of the great defenders of international legal principles in our time. Her distinguished career reminds us of the need to support, fortify and expand the global rule of law. Navi Pillay’s commitment to justice and human dignity is a source of hope and inspiration to all who seek to bring about a more peaceful world.”
Ms Pillay received the news while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany, the location of the trials of Nazi war criminals that helped lay the foundations of international law. Speaking there to a standing ovation, she said: “Firstly, at this venue, your applause means a great deal to me. You know, you don’t want to receive an award, prize or anything unless the public agrees that you deserve this.” She later told a news conference that leaders have a “legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war”.
Gaza comments
Ms Pillay chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, created by the UN-backed Human Rights Council. A year ago the commission concluded Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. Gaza was among Ms Pillay’s first comments on Friday after hearing she had won. “What’s happening there is genocide,” she said in Germany, to more applause. The commission last year also found that the Israeli president, prime minister and former defence minister “have incited the commission of genocide”.
Israel, which has refused to co-operate with the commission since it was established in 2021, has strenuously denied the accusations. Ms Pillay has repeatedly rebuffed critics who accused her of antisemitism or allegedly turning a blind eye to the Hamas attacks in Israel. Under her leadership, the commission also issued reports accusing Hamas of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law during its October 7 2023 attack.
In an interview with The Associated Press last year, she recalled how she worked closely with some Jewish lawyers in the fight against apartheid in her native South Africa and was invited to Israel as the UN rights chief from 2008 to 2014. The Nobel announcement came just two days after the anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and sparked the war.
