The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner is Navanethem "Navi" Pillay of South Africa, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on a Friday in Oslo, Norway. The 85-year-old, a former UN human rights chief and International Court of Justice judge, was recognised for her contributions to international law.

Why the Committee Chose Pillay

Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes announced that Pillay was recognised for her efforts to promote peace and international law. The committee said that with wars and conflicts rising and judges of international law under political attack, the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence depends on the international rule of law.

Those were the words Watne Frydnes used about Pillay's work. The committee added that an international legal system in which war criminals are held to account and victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world.

The committee's reasoning centred on:

• •Pillay's efforts to promote peace and international law
• •Her contributions to international law over a career spanning the UN and the International Court of Justice
• •The committee's warning that judges of international law face political attack as conflicts multiply

Who Is Navi Pillay?

Pillay, 85, has served as UN human rights chief and as a judge on the International Court of Justice. Her contributions to international law formed the basis of the award. Watne Frydnes said the committee had not yet been able to reach Pillay to inform her she had received the peace prize.

The 2026 Nominations and a 125th Anniversary

The Norwegian Nobel Committee received nominations for 287 candidates for this year's prize, and just over a quarter of them are organisations. The 2026 award also marks the 125th year of the peace prize.

Since the prize's inception in 1901 it has gone to:

• •112 individuals
• •28 separate institutions
• •The Red Cross three times
• •The UN refugee agency twice

The Week of Nobels and Last Year's Prize

The peace prize closed a week in which four other Nobels were announced. The medicine prize went to three scientists for a light-based tool to study the brain, the physics prize recognised work on a rare group of neutrinos, and the chemistry prize honoured two scientists for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules. On Thursday, Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson won the literature prize for works described as "bold and inventive".

Last year's prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition. Machado gave US President Donald Trump her Nobel medal shortly after the United States ousted then-president Nicolas Maduro, and the committee said the honour cannot be transferred.