PRESS RELEASE – October 12, 2026, Paris
The association Jurists for Respect for International Law (JURDI) welcomes the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2026 to the South African jurist Navanethem «Navi» Pillay, distinguished by the Norwegian Nobel Committee «for her efforts in support of peace and international law».
A lawyer for opponents of apartheid in South Africa, Navi Pillay later served as a judge and then president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. There, she notably participated in the landmark judgment. Akayesu (1998), the first conviction for genocide handed down by an international criminal court, which recognized that rape could constitute an act of genocide. A judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, she dedicated her career to the defense of human rights and the fight against impunity.
From 2021 to 2025, she chaired the International Commission of Inquiry independent UN mission on the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, which concluded, in a landmark report published in September 2025, that’Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
This prize is both a recognition and a message. At a time when the ICC, its judges, and its staff are subject to sanctions, and when those who document crimes, particularly those committed in Palestine, are targeted, this distinction serves as a reminder that justice is not an obstacle to peace: it is a prerequisite. No political or diplomatic consideration can justify sacrificing the fight against impunity.
It also reminds States, and first and foremost France, that international law is not something to be applied selectively. Fully cooperating with the ICC and opposing the sanctions against it, respecting the obligation to prevent genocide, particularly by ending arms transfers that could contribute to the commission of international crimes, protecting the institutions responsible for establishing the truth and delivering justice: these are not options, but obligations, in the Middle East as elsewhere.
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