Navanethem Navi Pillay Receives the Nobel Peace Prize for Promoting Global Law and Human Rights

Navanethem Navi Pillay has won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law. Born in Durban in 1941 to poor Tamil immigrant parents, Pillay grew up under apartheid as the daughter of a bus driver. In 1967, she became the first woman to open a law practice in Natal province and spent decades defending anti-apartheid activists, securing the right of political prisoners to legal counsel in 1973.

Career Milestones

Pillay earned her master's degree and doctorate in law from Harvard University. In 1995, she became the first Black woman to serve as a judge on South Africa's High Court and helped secure the equality clause in the country's Constitution. She later served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where her work on the Akayesu case established that rape and sexual violence could constitute genocide. Her international career also includes serving as a judge at the International Criminal Court and as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, alongside co-founding the women's rights organisation Equality Now.

Context

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to individuals or groups who have done the most to advance fellowship among nations and promote peace. Navanethem Pillay's decades-long career spans local civil rights defense under apartheid in South Africa to high-profile international judicial roles at the United Nations.