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The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, the South African jurist who led the United Nations commission of inquiry that concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Pillay’s long career in international human rights law includes work as a defense attorney for anti-apartheid activists, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a former judge at the International Criminal Court and the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights from 2008 to 2014.

“Everybody in the human rights movement reveres Navi Pillay,” says war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody, who calls the award “a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump.” Brody, a member of the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, also comments on the Trump administration’s decision to deport a Nicaraguan opposition activist, Jeffrey Jarquín, from the United States, where he was in the process of seeking asylum. Upon his return to Nicaragua, Jarquín was immediately imprisoned at the same facility in which he was once tortured.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. This is the chair of the Nobel Committee speaking in Oslo this morning.

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JØRGEN WATNE FRYDNES: The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 goes to a person who, with exceptional courage and integrity, has led the way towards a more comprehensive global legal order. This year’s laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law.

JØRGEN WATNE FRYDNES: The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 goes to a person who, with exceptional courage and integrity, has led the way towards a more comprehensive global legal order. This year’s laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law.

AMY GOODMAN: The South African human rights lawyer and international jurist Navi Pillay has been the United Nations high commissioner for human rights and a judge at both the International Criminal Court and at an international tribunal investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Most recently, she led the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry that concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.

Navi Pillay is now 85 years old. She was born into an Indian Tamil family in apartheid South Africa. The first woman to start a law practice in Natal, South Africa, in 1967, she began her legal career defending anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, exposing torture and helping establish key rights for prisoners on Robben Island. The Nobel Committee also praised her work in South Africa.

JØRGEN WATNE FRYDNES: A common thread runs from her early work, defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid, to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time.

JØRGEN WATNE FRYDNES: A common thread runs from her early work, defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid, to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time.

AMY GOODMAN: Navi........

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