Navi Pillay named winner of 2026 Nobel peace prize for efforts to promote international law – live | Nobel peace prize
Pillay ‘instrumental in ensuring war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted,’ Nobel committee chair says
Presenting the winner, Jørgen Watne Frydnes says:
“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.
Navi Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career. Born into a family of Indian Tamil origin under apartheid in Durban, South Africa, Pillay became a lawyer and legal pioneer, confronting deep structural discrimination, segregation and exclusion.
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.”
Key events
And that ends the presentation.
Anyone’s got Pillay’s phone number? Asking for a Norwegian friend.
Prize ‘a message to those who are attacking, undermining international system and its institutions,’ Nobel chair says
Jørgen Watne Frydnes gets repeatedly asked why the award was given to a person, and not an international court or other broader body.
He repeatedly says Pilay has been “at the forefront of the development of international law for decades, up until this day,” and is the right recipient.
“This is a message that international law and its institutions are the cornerstone of a more peaceful world. So of course, we hope that this prize also will strengthen the institutions, the individuals, not only Navi Pillay, but particularly her.”
He says she is “one of the most courageous and important legal experts of our time.”
He gets pushed on whether the award sends a message to those who question or sanction international courts, including the International Court of Justice.
It’s may sound innocent, but it’s a very specific question as the international court of justice has faced direct pressure and sanction threats from the US, among others.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes doesn’t miss a beat when he answers:
“This is definitely a message to those who are attacking, undermin[ing] the international system, the international rules-based system and the institutions.
Absolutely.”
‘If you see a Norwegian number calling, please pick up,’ Nobel committee chair tells peace prize winner
Nobel committee’s Jørgen Watne Frydnes now answers some questions.
Amazingly, he says the committee has not been able to reach Pillay.
He says:
“If you see a Norwegian number calling, please pick up. I would love to talk to you very soon.”
And that’s the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Navi Pillay:
Nobel committee’s decision backing for system of international law ‘under tremendous pressure’
Explaining the decision, Nobel committee’s Jørgen Watne Frydnes says “the system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack.”
“We see a shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respects for law and justice. Whenever might overtakes right, it undermines stability, trust and peaceful coexistence.
In awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wants to remind the world that the rule of law, national and international, underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts non-violently.
Peace requires justice.
History has shown that a world operating without the rule of law is unjust, unwise and inhumane. The judges, those who guard the thin red line between order and chaos, are therefore highly deserving of our praise.
But today, as these same judges are sanctioned and their institutions are under attack, we need people of courage, vision and determination – qualities that Navi Pillay demonstrates in her work on the bench.
He continues by saying:
“Navi Pillay has held states and national leaders accountable and brought hope to the victims of violence and conflict.
In all the positions she has held, she has stressed the responsibility of individuals and states to comply with the rule of law. She has also helped define the relevant norms and legal principles when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda established that rape and sexual violence could constitute a crime against humanity as well as genocide.
Her influence was a significant factor. In the same case, Miss Pillay was instrumental in a separate legal breakthrough. For the first time, a defendant faced charges of incitement to commit genocide purely on the basis of spreading propaganda.”
He wraps up:
“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 springs directly from Alfred Nobel’s will. Navi Pillay strengthens fraternity between nations and by systematically advancing the use of tribunals for peace and justice, she provides substance, direction and motivation for peace conferences in their modern form.
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 those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world.”
‘Legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence,’ Nobel committee says
He continues:
“This year’s laureate has significantly enlarged the scope and impact of international law.
She has served as a judge on the High Court in South Africa, the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda and the International Criminal Court. She was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and until recently she chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Today, Navi Pillay is a judge on the International Court of Justice in the case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide.
In historic international court cases, she has shown that legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence.
Navi Pillay has also contributed to strengthen the institutions of international law. Her independence, her expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time.”
Pillay ‘instrumental in ensuring war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted,’ Nobel committee chair says
Presenting the winner, Jørgen Watne Frydnes says:
“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.
Navi Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career. Born into a family of Indian Tamil origin under apartheid in Durban, South Africa, Pillay became a lawyer and legal pioneer, confronting deep structural discrimination, segregation and exclusion.
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.”
South African jurist Navanethem “Navi“ Pillay wins the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
Ooh.
That’s a surprise.
The ceremony gets under way.
And it looks like it won’t be any of the obvious favourites.
2026 Nobel Peace Prize announcement – watch live
You can watch along below, but I will bring you all the key lines here.
Spoiler alert (not really).
Despite as many as 14 public nominations, Norway’s public broadcaster NRK says “everyone with professional insight into the world and the Nobel Prize agrees on one thing: the American president will not receive this year’s Peace Prize.”
5 minutes to go.
We will learn the name of the winner today, but the official award-giving ceremony only will be in December – on 10 December, to be precise, the day of Nobel’s death.
That’s been the tradition since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901.
30 minutes to go
There is always lots of speculations and chatter about “ooh, so and so was nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize,” but it doesn’t mean that much.
All nominations must by submitted by 31 January, preferably online, but members of the Nobel Committee may add further names to the list during their first meeting, which last year was held in late February.
After that, the list is closed, and the committee works on a short list, which is then submitted to permanent advisers for their reports.
The final decision is made quite late, usually at the very last meeting before the announcement, in early October.
For what it’s worth, prediction markets have shifted again, putting Kuleba and Save Ukraine back in the first place, ahead of Navalnaya in the second.
It’s almost as if simply no one knows.
One hour to go
It’s one hour to go until we learn who is the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
10am UK, 11am CEST.
Last year’s peace prize was won by Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado for her dogged struggle to rescue the South American country from its fate as “a brutal, authoritarian state”.
She later presented her award to Donald Trump, meeting him in the White House, nearly a fortnight after he ordered the abduction of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
In his 1895 will, Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel wrote:
“All of my remaining realisable assets are to be disbursed as follows: the capital, converted to safe securities by my executors, is to constitute a fund, the interest on which is to be distributed annually as prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.
The interest is to be divided into five equal parts and distributed as follows: one part to the person who made the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics; one part to the person who made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who, in the field of literature, produced the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.
The prizes for physics and chemistry are to be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiological or medical achievements by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm; and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be selected by the Norwegian Storting.
It is my express wish that when awarding the prizes, no consideration be given to nationality, but that the prize be awarded to the worthiest person, whether or not they are Scandinavian.”
The first awards were given in 1901, and here we are, 125 years later!
The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, which is about €1.1m or £910,000.
Morning opening: Who will win the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize?
Jakub Krupa
The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced this morning, with all sorts of speculation about who could be this year’s worthy winner.
(Despite his hopes, Donald Trump is very unlikely to win it, again.)
Mykola Kuleba and Save Ukraine who work on rescuing Ukrainian children abducted by Russia during the war have long been among the favourites, alongside Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms.
But in the last few hours, Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of late Alexei Navalny, has gone straight to the very top of the list on some popular prediction websites. Could she be the one – just days after Vladimir Putin’s birthday in Russia?
Well: no one really knows, except a handful of members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Its chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes will appear in front of cameras at 10am UK time (11am CEST) this morning to give us the name of the winner.
We will bring it live to you here.
It’s Friday, 9 October 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
