00:00South Africans are celebrating after Navi Pillai was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize
00:07for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
00:10The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillai is both important and timely.
00:16It is important because it represents international recognition of the role of a woman of color
00:21from the global south in standing up for human rights, equality and justice,
00:26and promoting peace and dialogue.
00:28The leaders of Western Europe, as represented in the thinking of the Nobel Prize Committee,
00:37clearly are making a statement by giving this award to a South African human rights campaign
00:46of more than 60 years that they are not joining with the culture of impunity against human rights.
00:54I think something is remarkable about the use of the law.
01:01Law is really about justice.
01:04It is about power relations, power structures that privilege the elite.
01:10But there is always that rare breed to which you belong, that breed of lawyers who are using the law
01:20and who are litigating in the interests of the oppressed in the courts in this country and globally.
01:28So, who is Navi Pillai?
01:30Born in Deben during apartheid, Pillai broke racial and gender barriers to become one of the world's most respected jurists.
01:39She began her career defending anti-apartheid activists, including former South African President Nessa Mandela,
01:47at a time when South Africa's legal system enforced racial segregation.
01:52She later became the first non-white woman to serve on the South Africa's High Court
01:58before going on to sit on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Court,
02:05and serve as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
02:12Her work helped establish landmark legal precedents,
02:15including recognizing rape and sexual violence as acts that can constitute genocide and crimes against humanity.
02:24Most recently, she headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory
02:31and currently serves on the International Court of Justice panel, hearing the genocide case against Myanmar.
02:39The Nobel Committee said Pillai has been a driving force in strengthening international justice
02:44and ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted.
02:51With this award, she joins South Africa's Distinguished Nobel Peace Prize laureates,
02:56including Albert Lutuli, Desmond Tutu, and Nasser Mandela.
03:02Pillai was selected from 287 nominated candidates for this year's prize.
