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OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to South Africa\u2019s Navi Pillay, the judge who headed the Rwanda genocide tribunal and who last year presided over a UN commission which accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Pillay, currently a judge on the International Court of Justice in a case where Myanmar also stands accused of genocide, has been \u201cinstrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted,\u201d said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn historic international court cases, she has shown that legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence,\u201d the committee said.<\/p>\n
Pillay\u2019s \u201cindependence, her expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n
She reacted to the news by making a quip about US President Donald Trump\u2019s well-documented desire to win the prize himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump,\u201d the 85-year-old said during a standing ovation captured by Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard in Nuremberg and posted on the social network X.<\/p>\n
Pillay headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body, and which last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Pillay told AFP at the time that her team had shared \u201cthousands of pieces of information\u201d with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n
Israel categorically rejected the report\u2019s findings, slamming it as \u201cdistorted and false.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Courage to speak the truth\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n The Nobel committee said that while its prize honored Pillay\u2019s career of fighting genocide, it was not taking a stand on whether Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not the court,\u201d Frydnes told AFP.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s her report, the Commission\u2019s report \u2026 It will be decided by the International Court of Justice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Speaking on Friday after her standing ovation, Pillay noted that many had paid tribute to her courage in that report.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can imagine how surprised I was. Why would you need courage to speak the truth?\u201d<\/p>\n The UN said her prize was a \u201ctestament to the need and to the value of human rights in this world more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n The International Criminal Court meanwhile said her award was of \u201cparticular significance\u201d given current attacks on international law.<\/p>\n The Nobel committee echoed that sentiment in its statement, noting that \u201cat a time of existential challenges \u2014 including more wars and conflicts than the world has seen in a long time \u2014 international law is no longer just a supplement to peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is an absolute necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Needs to stop\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n The prize for Pillay is sure to anger Trump, whose administration has repeatedly attacked international justice institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a clear message to those who are putting pressure on these institutions, to those who are sanctioning the judges and are attacking the institutions. That needs to stop,\u201d Frydnes told AFP after the announcement.<\/p>\n Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize, insisting that he was the most deserving candidate and claiming to have ended up to eight wars.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me .. and I think it would be a great discredit to them,\u201d Trump had said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n But his war against Iran, his territorial expansion ambitions as in Greenland, his hard line on migrants, and his attacks on multilateralism and the media have, according to experts in Oslo, disqualified him for the prize.<\/p>\n Last year, the prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a choice generally considered palatable to Trump.<\/p>\n Machado even gave him her Nobel gold medal, judging he deserved it after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro \u2014 though she failed to obtain his political backing in exchange.<\/p>\n The Nobel committee has said it is not swayed by external pressures.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course we have to discuss it, but it\u2019s not like that influences the discussions in the room and decisions that come out,\u201d the secretary of the committee, Kristian Berg Harpviken, told AFP ahead of the prize announcement.<\/p>\n The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2 million.<\/p>\n The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prizes\u2019 creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n