Nobel Peace Prize goes to 85-year-old African human rights scholar ... “Law over force”

[Financial News] This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has gone to Navanethem Navi Pillay, a legal professional from South Africa.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee selected Navi Pillay as the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate on the 9th. The award was given for “efforts to promote peace and international law.”
 Pillay served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and as a judge at the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, making her a leading figure in international human rights law. She also defended former South African President Nelson Mandela during the apartheid era.
The Nobel Committee praised Pillay for holding states and leaders accountable and giving hope to victims of violence and conflict. Foreign media reported that the award carries a message that conflicts should be resolved through the international legal system rather than violence.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize carries a cash award of 12 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million (about 1.6 billion won). The ceremony is scheduled to take place in Oslo this coming December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
Pillay’s win means the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to a woman for the second consecutive year, following Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado last year. The 2025 Peace Prize was awarded to Machado for “efforts to advance the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people.”
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, and there were 287 nominees, including individuals and organizations. According to official Nobel statistics, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded 106 times from 1901 through 2025, with 143 individual and organizational laureates. With Pillay’s win this year, the total rises to 107 awards and 144 individual and organizational laureates.
The youngest Peace Prize laureate on record is Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai, who received the award at age 17 in 2014. The oldest is nuclear physicist Joseph Rotblat, who received it at age 86 in 1995; at 85, Pillay does not surpass the age record.
[email protected] Han Yeong-jun Reporter