Justice Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her efforts to promote peace and international law. We're re-releasing this phone interview we recorded with Justice Pillay in November 2025, just as she was about to be awarded the Sydney Peace Prize.
Justice Pillay is a trailblazer for human rights and women in law, and has delivered historic judgements on sexual violence and genocide.
She is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and was recently Chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Justice Pillay shares so much in this interview, including how she cultivated a career in South Africa's apartheid, her relentless pursuit of justice, and some really important lessons on hope.
The Nobel Committee called Justice Pillay one of the great defenders of international legal principles in our time, and said it wanted to remind the world that peace requires justice.
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