Sydney Peace Prize: Judge Navi Pillay calls out government impunity

While accepting the Sydney Peace Prize speech last night, Navi Pillay stated that the government acted with impunity and said, “International law is the last line of defense of humanity.” Stephanie Tran reports.

Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Judge Navi Pillay used her acceptance of the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize to emphasize that “no one is above accountability”, warning that governments cannot claim ignorance in the face of atrocities unfolding in Gaza and elsewhere.

Pillay, who chairs the UN Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told a packed audience at Sydney City Hall on Thursday night that governments should apply to themselves the same legal standards they demand of their citizens.

“Much more must be done… If governments don’t follow the law, how can they ask citizens to obey the law?” he said.

A pioneer in international law, Pillay’s career spans South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy, where she became the first woman of color appointed to the Supreme Court. He later served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.

Recalling his early years as a lawyer defending political prisoners under the apartheid regime, Pillay explained how the law could be reclaimed as a tool against injustice.

“The law as written protected apartheid, but I believed the law could also be a tool to combat injustice from within,” he said. “Practicing law under apartheid was an education that required courage. It taught me that injustice is not abstract, it has a human face. This is a mother waiting outside the prison gate, a child not allowed to go to school, a man who gets beaten for his confession.”

Pillay underlined the importance of persistence and courage in the face of injustice.

“I’ve been asked throughout my career how I keep going in the face of so much horror, so much resistance, so much politics,” Pillay said. “My answer is simple: I took my strength from the people whose rights we defended. This is not about despair. It is about determination. We do not have the luxury of giving up, because injustice does not allow even one day.”

Accountability is a must for justice in Gaza

Mohamed Duar, vice president of the Sydney Peace Foundation and Amnesty International Australia’s spokesperson for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said in his opening remarks at the ceremony:

International law was “humanity’s last line of defense”

Justice will only be served when the perpetrators of human rights violations in Gaza are held accountable.

“Those responsible for atrocities, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide must be held accountable and tried, no matter who they are,” he said. “International justice demands accountability for these crimes, prevents future atrocities, and provides victims with a pathway to seek justice and compensation.”

Former Australian Human Rights Commissioner Chris Sidoti, who served alongside Pillay as a Commissioner for the UN Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, criticized President Trump’s lack of accountability for human rights violations by Israeli forces during the election campaign. 20-item “peace plan”.

“The 20-point peace thought bubble contains only one reference to accountability, which is granting amnesty to Hamas. It says nothing about Israeli accountability,” Sidoti said. “There can be no peace without accountability. There can be no justice without accountability. … Without accountability, we are doomed to repeat the history of atrocities against human rights.”

Rawan Arraf, director general of the Australian Center for International Justice, said Israel’s impunity for ongoing atrocities in Gaza revealed a global failure of political will to uphold international law.

“What we are facing here is the reluctance of the authorities to actually fulfill their obligations,” Arraf said. “When there is no accountability, the cycle continues… Israel has now committed genocide because there is no accountability and impunity prevails.”

Navi Pillay. Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warns against being complicit in genocide in Australia