South African judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize
US President Donald Trump labeled the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice as ‘a disgraceful and embarrassing decision.’
THE 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, South African lawyer and champion of international law Navi Pillay (center) poses with the former president of the International Criminal Court Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi (left) and the director of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy Christoph Safferling after she gave a press statement on 9 October 2026 at the historic Courtroom 600 of Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice, venue of the 1945 to1946 Nuremberg Trials against leaders of defeated Nazi Germany, in Nuremberg, southern Germany, where she was attending the Nuremberg Forum 2026 conference of the INPA.
Photograph courtesy of FRANK BOXLER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
OSLO, Norway (AFP) — The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to judge and former United Nations rights chief Navi Pillay of South Africa drew backlash from United States President Donald Trump, who called the decision “disgraceful.”
Pillay, 85, has spent her career defending international law, working against war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But Trump labeled the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice as “a disgraceful and embarrassing decision,” telling a rally of his supporters in Syracuse, New York he had “never heard of” Pillay.
“The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t,” he said.
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prestigious award.
Hours after Pillay was named laureate, the US announced new sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), provoking swift condemnation from member states and the United Nations.
Pillay once sat on the ICC and in acknowledging the award she condemned attacks on institutions such as the tribunal.
Pillay, speaking from the courtroom in Nuremberg, Germany where the trials of World War II Nazi leaders took place, dedicated her prize to the “survivors of international crimes.”
The judge’s career has seen her tackle allegations of genocide in Rwanda, Myanmar and Gaza, prompting a furious response from Israel.
Israel said the award legitimized “anti-Israel hatred,” and that Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be “applauding from hell.”