Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The South Africa-born Pillay, 85 years old, was recognised for her efforts to promote peace and international law

The announcement was made by Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on Friday.

In 2025, the prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. She dedicated her award to US President Donald Trump and later gave him her medal. Under Nobel rules, however, the prize itself cannot be transferred to another person. Trump - who is waging a war against Iran - has long coveted the prize and repeatedly said he deserves it.

The award is worth 12 million Swedish kronor (about US$1.2 million) this year.

Laureates in medicine, physics, chemistry and literature have already been announced.

The Nobel Prizes were founded by Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite. In his will, he stipulated that the prizes should be awarded to those who, in the previous year, had been of the greatest benefit to humanity in the various prize categories.

Peace was the fifth and final prize area that Nobel mentioned in his will. He left no explanation as to why a Norwegian committee should award the prize for peace, while the other four prizes are handled by Swedish committees.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.