The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday was conferred to Indian-origin Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay for her efforts to “promote peace and international law”. Pillay is a human rights lawyer based in South Africa.
In a statement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Pillay has held states and national leaders accountable and brought a “hope to the victims of violence and conflict”. It said Pillay has always stressed the responsibility of individuals and states to comply with the rule of law.
“Navi Pillayโs commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. “A common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time.”
Indians who received the Nobel Peace Prize
Pillay has joined the list of Nobel Prize laureates of Indian origin. Before her, several people of Indian origin who held foreign citizenship received the prestigious award, including Har Gobind Khorana (1968, Physiology or Medicine), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983, Physics), Venkatraman ‘Venki’ Ramakrishnan (2009, Chemistry), VS Naipaul (2001, Literature), and Abhijit Banerjee (2019, Economic Sciences).
Meanwhile, Indian nationals who have received the Nobel Prize till now are Rabindranath Tagore (1913, Literature), Sir CV Raman (1930, Physics), Mother Teresa (1979, Peace), Amartya Sen (1998, Economic Sciences), and Kailash Satyarthi (2014, Peace).
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Who is Navanethem Navi Pillay?
Born in 1941 into an Indian-origin family in South Africa’s Durban, Pillay is a human rights lawyer. She spent most of her childhood under the apartheid period in South Africa, and despite everything, she went on to become the first Indian-origin women in the country to practice law.ย
She completed her Bachelor of Law in 1965. Throughout her career as a human rights lawyer, Pillay has participated in many anti-apartheid campaigns and fought against discriminatory laws.ย
Pillay also served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Furthermore, she is serving as an ad hoc judge of the International Court of Justice on The Gambia v Myanmar matter. Additionally, she is also the Chair of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
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