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


A sign that reads "The Nobel Peace Prize" is placed at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, where the laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, in Oslo, Norway, October 9, 2026. REUTERS/Tom Little

OSLO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - ⁠South African judge Navanethem "Navi" Pillay ⁠won the Nobel Peace Prize on ‌Friday "for her efforts to promote peace and international law," 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," 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 in his 1895 will.

(Reporting ​by Gwladys Fouche, ‌Nora Buli, Terje Solsvik, ​Nerijus Adomaitis and Tom Little in Oslo; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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