“She deserves the award more than anyone.” Who received the Nobel Peace Prize and why was it a reproach for Donald Trump?

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to South African human rights activist and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008-2014) Navintham Pillay is a personal signal of protest against US President Donald Trump and his policies. Greg Simons, a professor at Daffodil International University in Dhaka (Bangladesh), spoke about this in a commentary to Lenta.ru.

On October 9, former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navintham Pillay, received the Nobel Peace Prize. It is noted that she received the award “for her efforts to strengthen peace and international law.”

“Navi Pillay's commitment to universal legal principles and her strong moral compass have been consistent features of her long career. (...) In all the positions she held, she emphasized the responsibility of both individuals and states to respect the principle of the rule of law,” the reasoning part of the decision says.

After the winner was announced, the Nobel Committee encountered an unexpected problem - it could not reach Pillay.

What is Navintham Pillay famous for?

Navintham Pillay was born in 1941 in Durban, South Africa, into a family of Indian descent. My father worked as a bus driver and the family had no money for education. The girl was educated by the local community, and already in 1967 she became the first woman of non-European origin to open her own legal practice in the province of Natal.

For nearly three decades, Pillay defended activists and political prisoners who fought against apartheid in South Africa. The most famous among them is the future president of the country, Nelson Mandela, who spent many years in prison.

In 1995, after the fall of the regime, she was appointed judge of the High Court of South Africa. Thus, she was the first non-white woman in the country to hold this position.

An important milestone in her career was her election as a judge at the International Tribunal for Rwanda, created by the UN Security Council to try those responsible for the 1994 genocide.

The most significant was the case of burgomaster Jean-Paul Akayesu, a politician from the Hutu ethnic group who served as burgomaster of the Taba commune in Rwanda from April 1993 to June 1994. At first, Akayesu tried to protect local residents from pogroms, but then completely went over to the side of the organizers of the genocide, personally coordinating and encouraging the massacres, torture and rape of the Tutsi people.

As a result of Pillay's work, the Rwanda Tribunal in 1998 for the first time recognized that rape can be considered an act of genocide.

Additionally, in 2003, a tribunal chaired by Pillay convicted the leaders of Thousand Hills Free Radio and Television, which played a major role in inciting the Rwandan genocide.

From 2003 to 2008, Pillay was a judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and in 2008 the UN General Assembly appointed her UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She held the post until 2014, longer than the standard one term.

In 2021, the UN Human Rights Council appointed Pillay to chair an independent commission of inquiry into events in the “occupied Palestinian territories” and Israel. Under her leadership, the commission presented a report in September 2025 in which it concluded that there were grounds to consider Israeli actions in Gaza as “genocide.” Her resignation that same year caused a great scandal.

Why was Navintham Pillay given the award?

As the Nobel Committee noted, Pillay received the Peace Prize because she fought against impunity for the worst crimes. She also expanded the legal framework of genocide by investigating the situation in Rwanda.

As Simons noted, this is a more than fair reward.

According to the researcher, the award committee has long undermined its reputation due to the controversial selection of laureates. However, this reward may restore some of the lost trust.

“The committee and its highly controversial selection of laureates have seriously undermined the prize's credibility and reputation. At least at first glance, Navintem Pillay’s activities really testify to her desire for peace and justice, including in the framework of very high-profile trials,” the political scientist emphasized.

What gesture did the Nobel Committee send to Trump?

In addition, Simons drew attention to the geopolitical significance of the award. According to him, this is a direct challenge to US President Donald Trump and his policies.

“The fact that in the current situation a judge from a country in the Global South receives the prize does not seem to be an accident. Rather, it looks like a thoughtful and calculated step,” the professor noted.

According to him, with such an award the Nobel Committee directly reproaches the owner of the White House for his policies, accusing him of undermining international law.

The US President has repeatedly hinted at his desire to receive the Nobel Prize, but in 2025 he was unable to achieve triumph, as it was awarded to the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, Marina Corina Machado. After this, the American leader changed his rhetoric and began to speak openly about his merits. In particular, he criticized the Nobel organizers for the “wrong” choice.