South Africa

Pretoria, October 10, 2026. The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday, October 9, to Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, 85, born in Clairwood, a working-class neighborhood in Durban, to a family of Tamil Indian origin. The South African press initially hails this as a national victory. President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is proud to see the jurist join Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and FW de Klerk among the distinguished South Africans, and congratulates her on behalf of the nation for her commitment to justice, human dignity, and peace.

The media trace a career that begins with apartheid: the first woman to open a law firm in Natal in 1967, a defender of Nelson Mandela and other militants, the first woman of color to serve as a judge on the High Court, then as a judge and president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a judge at the International Criminal Court, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The South African recalls her role in the 1998 Akayesu judgment, which established that rape can constitute an act of genocide. The Nobel Committee speaks of an international law "under enormous pressure" whose institutions are "under attack".

This phrase takes on immediate significance: Daily Maverick reports that the Trump administration sanctioned the ICC itself just hours after the announcement, putting Washington "on a collision course" with its European allies. Marco Rubio justifies the measure by citing the Court's refusal to let Americans be prosecuted and calls it a "rogue court". Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan responds that the work will continue. SABC News relays the condemnation of António Guterres, who sees this as a severe blow to international criminal justice, and that of Volker Türk; the Netherlands and the EU promise measures to keep the Court functioning, with six months before the sanctions take effect.

The headlines also recall that Pillay chaired the UN commission of inquiry that concluded in September 2025 that a genocide had occurred in Gaza, a conclusion that Israel deems "scandalous". In this country, which has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, this aspect is not treated as an external controversy. Donald Trump calls the choice "shameful and embarrassing" and says he has never heard of her; Pillay responds that her absence from his radar is "an indictment" against him. She learned the news in Nuremberg, in front of her colleagues: "It must be a joke."