Peace 2026 · Announced Oct 9
A judge who helped make the worst crimes punishable anywhere.
One winner
In plain words
Pillay is a South African judge. She sat on the court that tried the Rwanda genocide. Later she led the United Nations human rights office.
Why it matters
Her court was the first to rule that rape can be an act of genocide. That ruling is now part of how world courts judge war crimes.
The official reason
"for her efforts to promote peace and international law"
The winners
28
years from a landmark genocide ruling (1998) to the prize
The long road
- 1967Opens her own law practice in apartheid South Africa.
- 1995Joins the UN court for the Rwanda genocide.
- 1998The court rules that rape can be an act of genocide.
- 2003Becomes a judge at the International Criminal Court.
- 2008Starts six years as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- 2026Nobel Peace Prize.