DOMINANT ANGLE
The Hague defends the Court: the Dutch press sees Navi Pillay's Nobel as a tribute to a judge of the institutions established in their country, at a time when Washington sanctions the ICC itself.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
DutchNews : Navi Pillay, 85 years old, former judge of the ICC and the ICJ, received the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, October 9; she chaired the UN commission that concluded a genocide was committed by Israel.
- 02
DutchNews : the US is sanctioning the ICC as an institution, a first, after thirteen members of its staff; Rob Jetten promises to protect it "stone by stone" and Tom Berendsen regrets a "new undesirable escalation".
- 03
De Telegraaf : Donald Trump calls the award of the prize to Pillay a "shameful and embarrassing decision" during a meeting in the state of New York.
ANALYSIS
The Hague, October 10, 2026. The Dutch press is treating Navanethem Pillay's Nobel Peace Prize as a domestic affair. DutchNews presents the 85-year-old South African jurist as a former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice, two institutions based in The Hague. The prize was announced on Friday, October 9, in Oslo. The chairman of the Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, sees her as a personality who has held states and leaders accountable and brought hope to victims of violence.
The account emphasizes her judicial career: lawyer for Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists, president of the International Tribunal for Rwanda, judge in the appeals chamber of the ICC from 2003 to 2008, and then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, according to NRC. DutchNews recalls that she chaired the UN commission that concluded that Israel had committed genocide. Since Nuremberg, Pillay has joked: if the public applauds more, she could share the prize with Trump.
The second part is the American response. According to DutchNews, Washington announced sweeping sanctions against the ICC, just hours after the Nobel Prize. Marco Rubio promised to ban transactions with this "rogue court" to strangle its resources. This is the first time the institution has been targeted as such; thirteen current or former staff members were already targeted. The sanctions cut the Court off from American companies, including financial and technological service providers.
The Dutch government is responding in the same vein. Prime Minister Rob Jetten had promised to protect the ICC "stone by stone". Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen spoke of an "undesirable new escalation" and said he deeply regretted this step.
NRC puts the prize in the series of contested Nobels: the 2025 prize, awarded to María Corina Machado, had been deemed counterproductive after she offered her medal to Donald Trump, who claims the prize several times. De Telegraaf, on Saturday, October 10, reports that Trump called the decision "shameful and embarrassing" during a meeting in the state of New York and attacked Norway.
SOURCES (3)
- DutchNewsMEDIUM
- De TelegraafMEDIUM
- NRCMEDIUM
