The Nobel Prize shared this picture of 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay on X as they announced her win, saying that Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career. ContributedArticle contentHe likes renaming bodies of water and adding his own name to buildings.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentShe calls out and names injustice.Article contentArticle contentHe is morally bankrupt.Article contentShe has been lauded for her firm moral compass.Article contentHe has pardoned people who have committed war crimes.Article contentShe has spent her long and distinguished career investigating war crimes.Article contentHe was found liable of sexual abuse.Article contentShe helped establish that sexual violence is a crime against humanity.Article contentArticle contentHe whined publicly about not being given the Nobel Peace Prize.Article contentShe was shocked to learn that she had won it and was given a standing ovation.Article contentHe is U.S. President Donald Trump.Article contentShe is Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, of whom Trump has said, “This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the Great United States of America, whose Representative, ME, settled eight Wars, and many other things. I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else! … (The) Nobel Prize was given today to a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of.”Article contentPerhaps Pillay is not a household name because she works diligently to ensure that international laws are upheld rather than spending her time self-aggrandizing and promoting her own personal brand.Article contentMaybe she would actually rather accomplish something than brag about her accomplishments.Article contentBut she should be a household name because her efforts have helped change the world — for the better.Article contentArticle contentWho is Navi Pillay?Article contentA pioneer on many fronts, she is of Indian ancestry, born in South Africa under apartheid.Article contentAs a woman of colour, she was highly disadvantaged by that racist policy, but it inspired what would become her lifelong fight against injustice.Article contentShe became the first woman in her province to start her own law firm and later was the first woman of colour appointed to the High Court of South Africa — tapped by then-president Nelson Mandela, whom Pillay had defended decades before, along with other anti-apartheid activists, as a human rights lawyer.Article contentPillay later presided over the International Criminal Tribunal, which prosecuted those involved in the Rwandan genocide. A former prosecutor on that tribunal, Stephen Rapp, praised Pillay’s work in an interview with PBS after she was announced as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.Article contentRapp recalled how Pillay was instrumental in establishing that rape was a crime against humanity.Article content“And she also found that rape was a way in which genocide was committed because of the way in which it inflicted serious mental and physical harm on women with the intent to destroy the whole group, because, before her, frankly, the attitude was that women and often children and girls were collateral damage and conflict, and that women’s bodies were the reward for brave soldiers,” he said.
PAM FRAMPTON: Trumps petulance about peace prize speaks volumes
