SA Lawyer Navi Pillay Gets Awarded Nobel Peace Prize for Promoting International Law
SA Lawyer Navi Pillay Gets Awarded Nobel Peace Prize for Promoting International Law
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, a South African lawyer, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo, recognising her efforts to promote peace and international law.
Pillay served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the High Court of SA, and chaired the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
From 2008 to 2014, she was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"Justice Pillay’s crowning as winner of the Nobel Prize allows us to celebrate the progressive contributions she has made to strengthen peace, uphold human dignity and bring hope in South Africa and to peoples globally," SA President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his statement.
The committee noted that a common thread runs through Pillay's career, from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who opposed apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the most important international court cases of our time.
"We are proud that Justice Pillay joins Chief Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Mandela and Former President FW de Klerk in highlighting the far-reaching impact of South Africans on peace, justice and the advancement of humanity," Ramaphosa added.
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