South African Judge Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize win on Friday sparked an angry tirade from US President Donald Trump, who complained of the award being given out “to a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of”.
Pillay, a former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge, was given the prestigious prize “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”.
Announcing the award hours before the US imposed sanctions on the ICC, the Nobel committee said in its citation that recognising Pillay underlined the importance of maintaining an organised international order.
Pillay, 85, has been a judge on several international courts, including the ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The Hague-based ICC has long been a target of Trump, whose campaign against it has escalated since the court announced arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister.
Trump last month urged countries to leave the ICC and had already imposed targeted sanctions on several prosecutors and judges at the court. On Friday, the US went further and imposed sanctions on the court itself.
“The system of international law is under tremendous pressure, and its institutions are under attack,” the Nobel committee said in its citation, which made no reference to Trump or Israel.
Pillay was also chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that concluded last year that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel dismissed the report at the time as “scandalous”.
Netanyahu’s office condemned the award in a statement on X.
“The Nobel Prize committee has lost its moral compass,” it said. “It has awarded its highest honour to a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the one and only Jewish state.”
Trump unleashed abuse on Norway hours after the committee announced Pillay as the winner. Each year of his presidency, Trump has expressed disappointment at his failure to win the prize.
“This is an indelible stain on the country of Norway and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision,” Trump said during a campaign rally in New York.
Pillay dedicated the award to “all the survivors of international crimes as well as to practitioners and defenders of international justice whose compassion and courage continue to ensure that impunity will not be allowed to reign”.
Born in Durban into a family of Indian Tamil origin, Pillay is the fifth South African to win the Nobel Peace Prize, after Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Albert Luthuli.
She continues to work as a judge, currently serving on the International Court of Justice in the case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide.
The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12-million Swedish krona, or about $1.2-million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will. – Reuters
- South African Judge Navi Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
- US President Donald Trump criticized the award, calling Pillay "a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of".
- The Nobel committee highlighted the importance of maintaining an international order and criticized attacks on the system of international law.
- Pillay has served as a judge on the ICC, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and currently on the International Court of Justice dealing with Myanmar's genocide case.
- Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the award, with Netanyahu's office calling Pillay a "bigot" and the committee's decision disgraceful.
