Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a judge on the International Court of Justice, won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Friday.
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Former U.N. human rights chief Navanethem “Navi” Pillay was named the Nobel Peace Prize winner on Friday in Oslo, Norway, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Pillay, who is South Africa-born and 85, is a judge on the International Court of Justice. The prize was awarded for her efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Watne Frydnes said Pillay’s work “is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world.” He said the committee had not yet been able to reach Pillay to inform her of the award.
In a news release, the committee said: “At a time when the number of wars and conflicts is rising, and when judges and institutions of international law are under political attack, the Nobel Committee wishes to issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence is dependent on the international rule of law.” It added, “An international legal system in which war criminals are held to account and the victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world.”
The committee received nominations for 287 candidates for this year’s prize, with just over a quarter of them organizations. Nominations can be made by selected people and organizations, including heads of state or politicians at a national level, university professors, directors of foreign policy institutes, past Nobel Prize recipients and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
This year’s Nobel announcements began earlier in the week with the medicine, physics and chemistry prizes. The medicine Nobel went to three scientists for work leading to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos, and the chemistry prize recognized two scientists for untangling mirror-image molecules used in developing countless drugs.
Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson won the literature prize on Thursday for works described as “bold and inventive” that fuse the classical and modern and blur the boundaries between poetry and prose. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is scheduled to be announced on Monday.
The prize money for the Nobel Peace Prize this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, whether awarded to an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.
The Peace Prize is marking its 125th anniversary this year and has gone to 112 individuals and 28 separate institutions since its inception in 1901. The Red Cross has won three times and the U.N. refugee agency twice, and the prize has not been awarded on 19 occasions, mostly during the world wars. In 1948, when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, no prize was awarded; it had been nominated 12 times without a win.
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