South Africa's Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay wins 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

Pillay held states and national leaders accountable and brought hope to victims of violence and conflict, and demonstrated a firm moral ⁠compass in her long career, the 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," the committee said.

The peace prize is the fifth Nobel awarded this week, after literature, chemistry, physics and medicine. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won in 2025.

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 12 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.2 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December ⁠10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards, opens new tab in his 1895 will.