Navi Pillay, the South African-born jurist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that, as a judge, she had to see the evidence of her win before she could believe the news.
“I received the letter in writing ... so now I have read it for myself, and it’s true,” said Pillay, 85, who won the award for promoting international law at a time when the system is under attack.
Her career has ranged from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza to serving as a judge on three international courts.
“To be honored for that kind of work is tremendous, not only for me, but for all my colleagues,” Pillay said.
On the 125th anniversary of the prize’s inception, the Norwegian Nobel Committee sought “to remind the world that the rule of law, national and international, underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts nonviolently. Peace requires justice,” committee Chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes said.
Pillay’s win is seen as a high-profile rebuke to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have both rejected the findings of the UN commission she led on Gaza. The leaders also have been highly critical of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, both of which have had Pillay on the bench.
“I value the focus of the selection committee on this important area, because it does affect the whole world if the rule of law is not respected,” she said.
Pillay had sharp words for Trump, who has coveted the peace prize for years, calling Washington’s attacks on the International Criminal Court “completely unlawful” as well as “negative and cruel.”
“Heads of countries have a particular responsibility to spell out the principles, which is that you respect the law, you respect international law,” she said.
Hours after the announcement of her award was made in Oslo, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sweeping new sanctions on the ICC, where Pillay once sat as a judge, as part of a campaign to dismantle the institution.
The octogenarian called on countries to defend the court and the international legal order more broadly, saying she would like to see “collective action, not just words” from the rest of the world.
Pillay said that impunity is unpopular everywhere and that the public wants justice. People are dismayed, she said, that powerful countries like Russia and the United States are not members of the International Criminal Court but sit on the United Nations Security Council and can reject any attempt to hold them to account.
She faced strong criticism from Israel for her work chairing a UN commission on Gaza, which concluded last year that Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. Pillay dismissed the Israeli response, saying only the US and Israel took issue with the conclusions.
“We just have this condemnation by the state of Israel because they are the ones that we have held responsible,” she said.
Human rights groups and many experts on genocide have reached similar conclusions.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel strongly denies the allegations.
Pillay says that while things in the world may seem challenging at the moment, she said that international law is a relatively recent development for humanity. “Justice is slow, so we must not be impatient,” she said.
But she urged people not to be complacent and to see the world a bit more like a judge would. “Don’t fall for false propaganda or just repeat slogans,” Pillay said, urging everyone to make sure they check the evidence.
