Who is Navi Pillay, the Indian-origin judge who won the Nobel Peace Prize 2026?

Short answer: Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, 85, is a South African judge from a family of Indian Tamil origin. She won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, announced in Oslo on Friday 9 October, "for her efforts to promote peace and international law." She grew up under apartheid in Durban, the daughter of a bus driver. She went on to become a judge at two international courts and the UN's human rights chief from 2008 to 2014.

Her Indian connection

• She was born Navanethem Naidoo on 23 September 1941 in Durban, into a family of Indian Tamil origin.
• Her father was a bus driver, and she grew up in a poor Indian part of Durban under apartheid.
• She studied law at the University of Natal (BA 1963, LLB 1965), in classes kept for non-white students.

Career at a glance

| Year | Milestone |

|---|---|

| 1967 | Opens her own law firm, the first woman of colour in Natal province to do so. She defends anti-apartheid activists. |

| 1973 | Wins the right for political prisoners on Robben Island, including Nelson Mandela, to see lawyers. |

| 1982, 1988 | Earns a master's (LLM) and then a doctorate (SJD) at Harvard Law School, the first South African to receive the Harvard SJD. |

| 1995 | Becomes the first woman of colour on South Africa's High Court, and is elected a judge of the UN tribunal for Rwanda. |

| 1999–2003 | President of the UN tribunal for Rwanda. |

| 2003–2008 | Judge on the Appeals Chamber of the ICC in The Hague. |

| 2008–2014 | UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. |

| Until 2025 | Chairs the UN's independent commission of inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. |

| Now | Sits at the International Court of Justice as the judge chosen by The Gambia in its case against Myanmar over the treatment of the Rohingya. |

Why she won

• Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes praised her "commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass."
• The committee said she was instrumental in making sure war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted, and that she has "significantly enlarged the scope and impact of international law."
• At the Rwanda tribunal she sat on the Akayesu case. It produced the first genocide conviction by an international court and recognised that rape can be an act of genocide when it is used to destroy a group.
• She also co-founded the women's rights group Equality Now.

Good to know

• Prize: 12 million Swedish kronor, presented in Oslo on 10 December.
• Field: the committee received 287 nominations this year. Last year's prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
• All 2026 winners: PetitionFox keeps a full list at petitionfox.in/answers/nobel-prize-2026-winners-when-is-each…

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