Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 to Navanethem "NAVI" Pillay

(nobelprize.org)

183 points | by Anon84 3 hours ago

18 comments

  • killingtime74 2 hours ago
    I was just checking which were the top guesses on polymarket before the announcement and this winner was not even a choice on there. At least we know there's no insider trading at the Nobel foundation.
    • rags2riches 2 hours ago
      > In accordance with Nobel's will, the prize is selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a five-member committee appointed by the Parliament of Norway unlike all the other awards chosen by the Swedish Nobel Committee.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize

      There's been accusations of leaks in connection to bets with the Nobel Price in Literature.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature_cont...

    • hparadiz 2 hours ago
      [flagged]
      • hackyhacky 2 hours ago
        Can you explain why this choice is offensive to you?
        • hparadiz 2 hours ago
          [flagged]
          • khalic 2 hours ago
            What was the report about?
            • hparadiz 2 hours ago
              [flagged]
              • Intermernet 2 hours ago
                If I'm doing a report on the corruption of the LAPD (as an example), I don't tend to bring up the organised crime in LA, let alone the Mafia in Milan.

                A report on abuses committed by the IDF should focus on abuses committed by the IDF. There are many reports on the the war crimes of Hamas, and there are many reports on the war crimes of Russia.

                You can't water down the behaviour of the IDF by claiming their actions were somehow justified by the actions of another group. That's how the cycle of aggression perpetuates, and how political agendas overrule human decency. That exact behaviour has some very bad connotations in world history.

              • khalic 2 hours ago
                What's the name of the committee? I need to check it myself
                • rithdmc 2 hours ago
                  It's linked in another comment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50018795
                  • khalic 2 hours ago
                    The report where she acknowledges the massacre on the very first paragraph? OC should have read the damn thing before posting nonsense
                    • rithdmc 2 hours ago
                      Yes, that report. There's no nuance to the OC argument - just denial of facts.

                      The reactionary propaganda of it being "one sided" or not including "Russia in Ukraine" in a report about genocide in Gaza has been common since the report came out.

              • andrepd 2 hours ago
                Why should a report about crimes committed by the IDF write about crimes committed by Russia or by Hamas? That's the most ridiculous attempt at whataboutism I've seen in a long time.
          • dudefeliciano 2 hours ago
            "7 October 2025 marked two years since the brutal attack by Palestinian militants that killed 1200 Israelis and foreigners in southern Israel"

            Statement by Navi Pillay, 28 October 2025

            https://www.un.org/unispal/document/statement-by-navi-pillay...

          • artisinal 2 hours ago
            Source: Trust me bro
          • torlok 2 hours ago
            [flagged]
            • ecshafer 2 hours ago
              No actually it is my business to condemn people kidnapping, raping and murdering women and children.
            • enrightened 2 hours ago
              [dead]
            • flyinglizard 2 hours ago
              I wholeheartedly support your point.

              All international oversight should be removed and Hamas and Israel could go at it as long and as hard as they wish.

      • BigTTYGothGF 2 hours ago
        One wonders how you would have felt about the 1973 prize if you had been alive at the time.
  • JensRantil 2 hours ago
    Yay, congrats Navi! Thanks for contributing to international law!
  • onepunchedman 2 hours ago
    Great to see that they're not afraid to stand up to the rising authoritarianism
    • fifilura 2 hours ago
      The committee is independent from politics although some dictators may at times misunderstand that.
      • belorn 40 minutes ago
        Where does it say that the Norwegian Nobel Committee is independent from politics?

        As stated on their webpage, "As far as possible, the composition of the Committee is to reflect the relative strengths of the political parties in the Storting." - https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/nobel-committee/

        It is independent to the sitting Norwegian government, as members can't have current seats both in the committee and Storting, but several committee do represent the political parties in Norway.

        Currently the committee is made from former Leader of the Centre Party, a foreign policy scholar and writer, former Conservative Party cabinet member that was the Minister of Education and Research, a Political scientist and Chief Executive Officer of Utøya AS, and last the former Labour Party Foreign Affairs Secretary.

      • pczy 1 hour ago
        I find it hard to see how the committee can be genuinely independent of politics when its members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
        • originalvichy 30 minutes ago
          Norway is one of the few countries in the world that has ”fuck you” money and a functioning representative electoral system. If the parliament appoints the committee, I find it politically suicidal for any representative to dare to directly interfere with the commissions deliberation and choices. There’s hardly anything positive to gain from it for a representative.
          • chewchewchew 8 minutes ago
            how does this imply that they can be disconnected from politics, some may argue on the contrary due to what you just stated.
      • baggachipz 24 minutes ago
        There's always FIFA to give out a prize if necessary.
      • ks2048 40 minutes ago
        "independent from politics" seems to have a few different meanings. One is inherently bad and another is not necessarily bad. Of course the committee is political and the entire nature of the award is political.
      • kzrdude 1 hour ago
        They have really not made the impression that they are independent of politics, all laureates taken together. But if they improve I'm all for it.
        • fifilura 1 hour ago
          They have opinions and moral values. And a lot of times they coincide with western democracy ideals.

          Or - like today - with rules based global world order.

          • impossiblefork 1 hour ago
            You remember Machado though...

            Peace prize for someone who was literally arguing for subjecting her own country to an invasion and foreign occupation.

            I remember how Swedish state television suddenly flipped very after that, and started cuddling Cuban exiles who wanted the same there. I think this whole thing was certainly coordinated somehow, behind the scenes in order to attempt to legitmize a future US invasion of Venezuela and their general conduct in the Carribean and South America /Pacific.

            Things like this happened during expulsion of the Karabach-Armenians too. Then SVT went out and said that "Armenian separatists [had] agreed to leave Azerbaijan", and they left out the artillery bombardement, the deaths by starvation and the ICJ judgement against Azerbaijan's closure of the Lachine corridor, even though such a judgement by an organization like the ICJ would otherwise by first-page news.

            So while I can't be sure that there's some NATO-internal press office coordinating how planned future military activity by members is to be presented in the media, it seems that Turkey could achieve that, and that the US could achieve that.

            • fifilura 1 hour ago
              Yeah, I guess they act independently from international courts.
              • impossiblefork 1 hour ago
                How do you mean, and who?

                If you mean Swedish state television, what I meant was that any such major judgement by a UN court like the ICJ, would be front page news.

                Remember, this stuff was subject to long and incredibly annoying thing in the Security Council as well, and SVT ignored that too. It was the biggest thing that happened that whole year, basically and the entire coverage by SVT were those words I quoted in the comment before this, that "Armenian separatists have agreed to leave Azerbaijan".

                • fifilura 41 minutes ago
                  The Norwegian nobel prize committee. (Your post was heavily edited, if you think i missed some point.)
                  • impossiblefork 19 minutes ago
                    Yeah, I can be slow in getting them finished.

                    But at that point I can't have mentioned the ICJ stuff, can I? Hmm. Oh well. I get what I get for my editing.

      • yostrovs 1 hour ago
        The committee is selected by the Norwegian parliament, a political body.
        • p-e-w 1 hour ago
          And there is a long history of allegations of additional political influence beyond that.
    • rob74 10 minutes ago
      I mean, if the really gave the prize to Trump, they would completely destroy their credibility. That's better left to FIFA (not that FIFA had a lot of credibility before creating a peace prize to award it to Trump).
  • nxobject 12 minutes ago
    I'll be amused to see how the administration reacts. Perhaps we'll end up having the Trump Prizes.
    • netsharc 9 minutes ago
      Satire is mostly dead in this world of clownocracy, but someone should prank-call FIFA and ask them who's the winner of this year's FIFA Peace Prize...
  • vintagedave 3 hours ago
  • khalic 2 hours ago
    A clear FU to the Cheeto, love it
  • alexnewman 57 minutes ago
    I obviously think my wife should have won, but at least she won the greatest award, an aaron sorkin movie
  • gyanchawdhary 1 hour ago
    The oberturies posted on HN are more worthy of Noble than Noble's being handed out to non sceince folk because of politics .. at this point, its become more like Forbes ..
    • ks2048 57 minutes ago
      > "At this point"

      Of the original 5 Nobel prize categories, 2 were always not about science.

      • fuzzfactor 15 minutes ago
        That's what I was thinking.

        I'm a lifelong scientist but it should be obvious that the Peace Prize is supposed to be bigger than science.

      • gyanchawdhary 14 minutes ago
        yes ... but who is she? and what has she actually done?

        for comparison, i knew nothing about margaret hamilton or bill draper before reading their obituaries on HN this month. it literally took a few sentences to understand what legends they were .. not just in their respective domains, but in terms of their broader impact on humanity ..

        with this navi lady, i've scrolled through two pages of text and still don't have a clear picture of what she actually DID to deserve whatever greatness the Nobel seems to bestow upon her.

        i mean, if you can't even explain to a layman, in plain english, what someone actually DID to earn a prize of this stature .. without resorting to a laundry list of causes and buzzwords ... then what exactly are we rewarding here ? Her kindness ? Decency ? Morality ? wtf

        • nsriv 1 minute ago
          The announcement pretty clearly lays out what she's done to earn it, acknowledging that while international law isn't perfect, the fact-finding process of its practice is important and sets a precedent for continued adherence to legal principles. Her devotion to that practice and influence on introducing sexual assault and propaganda as charges of incitement to genocide are significant contributions backed by legal victories she was instrumental in winning.

          My opinion is that yes, while international law rarely leads to punitive justice as many would like to see it executed, bad actors attacking these legal institutions demonstrate their importance in the court of public opinion and legitimacy.

          Hope that gave you some Gyan, Mr. Chawdhary. Please remember that it's a big world out there and human endeavor has many paths to take beyond just science or what one person can understand by skimming an announcement.

    • Reubachi 27 minutes ago
      I suggest looking at the original Nobel* awards before deriding "modern politics" as a boogyman
  • myth_drannon 8 minutes ago
    Pillay is complicit in China's genocide of Uyghurs. What a shame. Not to mention she is antisemite rambling about the "Jewish lobby". But anyways, not surprised at all. Dark times indeed.
  • nervai 3 hours ago
    Reminder that the US administration is on a campaign to dismantle the ICC for echoing similar findings to this Nobel Prize winner in her role at UNHRC [1].

    I'm extremely grateful to, and humbled by, these people continuing their brave work knowing they will face the full wrath of the US and Israel govs and their campaigns to dismantle accountability for the worst crimes.

    [1] https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/20...

    • vincnetas 2 hours ago
      "The ICC poses an intolerable threat to U.S. sovereignty – it claims the authority to prosecute and even imprison American servicemen and officials operating on behalf of America’s national interest. Americans never signed up for this, and all American presidents since the ICC’s ratification have maintained that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over Americans. The ICC previously opened an investigation into U.S. servicemen and intelligence officers and has since refused to close these cases."

      Yeah, but somehow if i do some illegal shit according to USA they have no problem arresting me when i come visit (or if they really eager they come to visit me). But how dare you tell us what we can do or cant do INTOLERABLE.

      • Telemakhos 1 hour ago
        Yes, that’s what sovereignty means: a sovereign state governs itself and is not governed by others. A sovereign state can agree to abide by certain rules or submit some disputes to another arbiter, but it does so consensually by treaty. The US never ratified a treaty establishing the authority of the ICC, so it has not consented to that diminution of sovereignty.

        You as an individual are not sovereign, and when you come to the land over which the US is sovereign, you are subject to US law.

        • freehorse 1 hour ago
          > You as an individual are not sovereign, and when you come to the land over which the US is sovereign, you are subject to US law.

          And if an american, whom ICC have found guilty on crimes, visits a country which upholds ICC rulings they should be arrested, no?

          Nobody talked about kidnapping people in the US or doing anything similar. In contrast, the US is in a habit on (among others)

          1. kidnapping

          2. bombing

          3. otherwise assassinating

          4. sanctioning

          5. demanding extradition (the only actual "legal" part)

          foreign citizens that they do not like. We can also say that no other, non american citizen has actually agreed to these practices either, nor to US authority to be the world serif. So these arguments more like read like monopoly of global violence/authority than "sovereignty".

        • cycomanic 1 hour ago
          The main part of the argument is that the US is very happy to apply their laws to foreign citizens for things they have done on foreign soil and are also happy to legally or illegally extract those citizens from the foreign states. That does in fact directly violate those other states sovereignty.
          • weberer 1 hour ago
            >foreign citizens for things they have done on foreign soil

            When has this ever happened? You might be referring to Maduro's extradition, but that was due to him being charged with smuggling mass amounts of cocaine into the USA.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Nicol%C3%A1s_Ma...

            • tosapple 1 hour ago
              i was just going to bring this up, but a different aspect: I'm not curious about the drug charges, I'm curious about the gun charges as unlevied.
        • yread 1 hour ago
          Conversely, American individuals are also not sovereign so when they come to a sovereign land where they are sought (by the state or its partners through treaties) for crimes, they are subject to the the state's laws and treaties.
        • brookst 1 hour ago
          This would more persuasive if the US didn’t have a long history of prosecuting, even kidnapping, foreign nationals on foreign soil for violations of US law.
        • Ozzie_osman 58 minutes ago
          > The US never ratified a treaty establishing the authority of the ICC, so it has not consented to that diminution of sovereignty.

          True, they could ignore the ICC, but they shouldn't go around sanctioning and punishing and threatening its judges.

        • tgv 1 hour ago
          > a sovereign state governs itself and is not governed by others

          Hence, if anyone commits a crime in another country, they fall under the jurisdiction of that country. So while the US doesn't have to recognize the ICC, listen to it, or follow its verdicts, other countries are free to do so.

          But now the US is threatening the judges of the ICC, which is hypocritical to say the least. It's more of a mafia thing, really. Not surprising, given Trump's background.

        • vincnetas 1 hour ago
          So it should be no surprise to USA that sovereign countries that abide to ICC rulings take actions against individual USA citizens.
          • pirate787 1 hour ago
            This isn't true, the US considers prosecution by the ICC as an act of war.
    • Vaslo 2 hours ago
      Yes because the only law that the US needs to recognize is its own.
      • khalic 1 hour ago
        Oh but others must recognize America's laws right? Oh the hypocrisy
        • Vaslo 1 hour ago
          It’s not hypocrisy. Don’t follow them. But when your interests conflict with ours, then we will exert our influence.
          • bad_haircut72 20 minutes ago
            As Americas star continues to wane over the coming decades y'all are really going to regret this "might makes right" stance.
          • tchalla 42 minutes ago
            I wish more people understand this very clearly instead of hiding behind "democratic values" and other moral lectures.
          • ks2048 45 minutes ago
            Sometimes self-interest leads to cooperation.
          • khalic 1 hour ago
            No you will kidnap people, have them killed, silenced, accounts freeze, etc. It's not merely "exercising influence", it's coercion. It's exactly the case here, it's the US's prerogative not to follow the ICCs judgements, it's none of your fkn business what laws other countries have. If a US citizen is in another territory, it's that territory's law that count.

            Your government also routinely ignores its own laws and judgements.

            Hypocrisy at all the levels, and lying to try to still have the moral high ground.

          • mda 45 minutes ago
            Typical American hubris.
      • dudefeliciano 1 hour ago
        doing a pretty shit job at that too tbh
        • Vaslo 1 hour ago
          [flagged]
      • enaaem 34 minutes ago
        The US is a colony of Israel.
  • CurbStomper4 46 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • thecatthe 2 hours ago
    [dead]
  • hparadiz 2 hours ago
    [flagged]
    • khalic 2 hours ago
      You mean war criminals like Netanyahu?
    • xg15 2 hours ago
      Get out of the Israeli bubble please...
      • cramer4next 2 hours ago
        [flagged]
        • dudefeliciano 2 hours ago
          No, being in a bubble means being disconnected from the broader reality.
          • cramer4next 2 hours ago
            Not from my perspective. Being in bubble means your lacking experience and living a sheltered life. Reality is subjective to ones view.
            • dudefeliciano 2 hours ago
              > lacking experience and living a sheltered life.

              Hence "Israeli Bubble", sheltered from the reality of their (government/army) actions, convinced to be the most moral army in the world.

              > Reality is subjective to ones view.

              Maybe your subjective reality, that's your thoughts and feelings. But there is an objective reality, like tens of thousands of children killed, the use of a starvation campaign in Gaza, all of Gaza City being turned to rubble which you can see for yourself on google maps satellite view, and many more such war crimes that have been factually proven.

              • cramer4next 1 hour ago
                I'm still confused how this has anything to do with a noble prize?

                Secondly did you ever watch the aftermath of the U.S dropping atomic bombs on Japan? How many children were killed? How many innocent people suffered? Thats the "reality" of war.

                • netsharc 52 minutes ago
                  Not the person you were conversing with, but: Sheesh, how dismissive of the tens of thousands of dead (both in Gaza and in Japan).

                  If you want to claim to be more civilized than Hamas and their cheerleaders, not being angry when "your side" doesn't take all effort to kill civilians is not how to do it.

                  Some in Palestine cheered when 7 October happened. Some cheered when 9/11 happened. If you ask them "how can you, those innocents died for no reason" and they replied "That's the 'reality' of war", how would you feel?

                  And if you consider them uncivilized barbarics for not caring, how do you view yourself? Ah yeah of course you're different, you're on the "right side", and for you "it's fine" (or "it's reality of war") when the "wrong" innocents die...

                  • cramer4next 15 minutes ago
                    How am I being dismissive? I simply stated two things around the discussion of "bubble" and "reality". I made no opinion or view, rather I defined bubble and stated the reality of what war really is.

                    Nothing I said is about whats wrong or right. I simply pointed out historical facts. The same way the original comment I replied to.

                    Innocent people everyday are victims in a system they have absolutely no control over. Especially in cases of war and international affairs. None of these statements reflect any of my personal feelings or passing a judgement on any grouping of people.

  • mvelbaum 2 hours ago
    [flagged]
  • ReptileMan 2 hours ago
    [flagged]
    • jeltz 1 hour ago
      Yes, but what has that to do with this year's winner?
      • ReptileMan 20 minutes ago
        Everything. She hasn't contributed to world peace. She has not stopped wars, she has not prevented them, south africa is not more peaceful than it was before.

        Just rename the award to whatever - being outstanding human, standing up for human rights or whatever.

        If Putin decides to freeze or stop the war in Ukraine tomorrow he will contribute more to world peace objectively than last 10 of the winners combined. Should we give him award too?

  • throwfaraway135 2 hours ago
    [flagged]
    • gpvos 2 hours ago
      It is, like many things, how much meaning you attach to it yourself. Apparently Donald T. thinks it's very important, he makes a lot of fuss about it.

      Anyway, the NPP is one of the things that tries to push humanity on a broad scale in a better direction, and I'm grateful for that. It is important to at least speak out about injustice, and to celebrate those who do so, otherwise those injustices are never going to be fixed (I'm not even talking about punishing, although that should be done).

      • throwfaraway135 47 minutes ago
        I get the sentiment, but if you hijack peoples attention by pretending "look we are civilized, we have humanitarian organizations" instead showing the ugly reality, this in my book is worse.
    • CaptWorld 1 hour ago
      Don't tell me that you think there's genocide in gaza?
      • steinvakt2 59 minutes ago
        Look at any recent pictures. Gaza was basically nuked
        • avh02 21 minutes ago
          hamas tunnels under everything. /s
      • throwfaraway135 50 minutes ago
        I would describe it more of a massacre/war crimes, you can't compare it to something like the East Timur genocide, that said it is going on for a long time.
  • josu 34 minutes ago
    > in 2019 she became an ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case in which Myanmar stands accused of genocide.

    https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2026/pillay/facts/

    I wonder who committed said genocide... oh, yeah, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

    https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1991/kyi/facts/

    • braiamp 16 minutes ago
      Committee can’t predict the future man, they only had her actions before 1991. Her showing up at the ICJ was probably a move to appease the military and it didn’t work, they ousted her in 2021 anyway. If you want change argue for awarding it posthumously or that the prize is for worthy actions already done, in which case there are easier targets like Kissinger
  • ZiiS 1 hour ago
    The problem is you have to be noteworthy enough to be considered; and are going to be in close proximity of atrocities (hopefully trying to prevent them). Realistically this means a higher percentage of laureate are now generally accepted to have some complicity in atrocities then the percentage of normal people.
    • brookst 1 hour ago
      Which maybe is ok? It’s not a “most perfect person” prize, it’s a “did the most to advance peace” prize.

      It makes people uncomfortable, but maybe someone who reduces net suffering despite being responsible for some suffering is doing more than normal people who do no harm, but do no good?

      • billnad 19 minutes ago
        Yikes, never looked at it that way. I always think of the people making things better, or that move the needle more worldwide but you are very right, the Nobel Prize is going to be awarded to someone who has been in war zones where there are tough decisions to be made
      • cindyllm 1 hour ago
        [dead]
    • andrelaszlo 33 minutes ago
      The problem with the Peace Prize in general, or this time? It's not entirely clear to me what you're trying to say.