In awarding Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee recognised a jurist whose long career qualifies her as one of the most deserving recipients in the Prize’s 125-year history.

Ms. Pillay was born in 1941 in a poor neighbourhood of Durban in a Tamil family. Her grandparents had been brought from India in the 1890s as indentured labourers for Natal province’s sugar plantations. Her father was a bus driver. After studying law at the University of Natal, she became the first woman to open a law practice in the province in 1967. She defended opponents of apartheid and fought for political prisoners.

In 1973, she won the inmates of Robben Island, who included Nelson Mandela, the right to legal representation. Later, she earned a doctorate in law from Harvard and campaigned for the equality clause in South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitution.

In 1995, she was nominated by President Mandela to serve on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She spent eight years on the tribunal, four as president. It delivered two landmark rulings. One, rape and sexual violence could constitute genocide (the ‘Akayesu case’). Two, those who spread hate propaganda against the Tutsis by radio and print were guilty of incitement to genocide (the ‘Media case’). Following this stint, she served terms as a judge of the International Criminal Court (2003-08), as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008-14) and recently as the chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 2021 to 2025. She also sits as judge ad hoc, designated by The Gambia, in the International Court of Justice’s genocide case against Myanmar today.

A stark contrast

The decision by the Committee cannot be seen in isolation from what it did a year ago. In its statement lauding the work of Ms. Pillay, it said “peace requires justice,” and that international law “is no longer just a supplement to peace and security. It is an absolute necessity”. It warned of “a shift towards power politics at the expense of legal frameworks” and of a world where “might overtakes right” and of judges who are “sanctioned” while their institutions are “attacked”. It said that cases under international law have “produced different results depending on who is the perpetrator and who is the victim”.

Between the lines, it is clear whom the Committee is referring to. The U.S. under Donald Trump has sanctioned ICC officials since 2025 – and has reportedly expanded them on the same day the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Ms. Pillay. In January 2026, U.S. forces abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and took control over the country’s oil resources and revenues. On February 28, the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. U.S. forces struck a primary school in Minab in southern Iran, killing more than 160 schoolgirls. The war that followed has led to a global fuel crisis and has still not ended.

Last year, the Committee honoured Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a staunch ally of the U.S. and Israel, and who backed the U.S. military pressure and actions on her country. In January, Ms. Machado farcically “gifted” her medal to Mr. Trump at the White House, embarrassing the Committee, which said the prize could not be transferred. The symbolism was clear though — the recipient of the award was handing it over to a man presiding over severe breaches of international law, which the Committee has now mentioned without naming Mr. Trump.

Justice over might

The choice of Ms. Pillay could help the Committee fend off some of the criticisms it faced in the past. In Plato’s Republic, Thrasymachus insisted that justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger, which has now been turned into doctrine by great powers. The Committee’s statement is telling in this regard. It recalls that the “key insight” of the post-Second World War order was that lasting peace “must be built on legal principles, not on the will of the strong or a fragile balance of power”. In honouring Ms. Pillay, the Committee has in effect, rejected the Thrasymachian doctrine that has been adopted by leaders like Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and endorsed the conviction of jurists like her that law and not might must govern relations between nations.

In September 2025, Ms. Pillay was the chair of the UN commission of inquiry, which concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and found reasonable grounds that four of the five acts listed in the 1948 Genocide Convention had been committed since October 2023. Explaining the finding, she wrote in the New York Times: “The judicial panel over which I presided convicted three Rwandans of genocide. So I understand the word ‘genocide’, and it is not one I use lightly”. Citing words by then Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog, she said: “Their words have been matched by deeds… and a siege we concluded was designed to starve the population to death”. And that those deeds were “not the accidents of war. They are acts calculated to bring about the destruction of a people”. While saying so, she did not ignore the Hamas atrocities of October 7, which her Commission documented, adding: “But no crime, however grave, justifies genocide”.

Predictably, the reaction to the Prize from Mr. Trump and Israel has been in anger. Mr. Trump went on a rant on how he deserved the award and insulted Ms. Pillay while Israel called the award a “grotesque weaponisation” of the prize. The Committee’s chair, when asked about Ms. Pillay’s Commission terming Israel’s actions as genocide, said the “Nobel Committee is not the court”, but the Committee did send a message by honouring the jurist who named the crimes.

Threats to peace

World peace is threatened today in two directions. From the developed world, a superpower is using military superiority to nakedly grab resources while seeking to dismantle institutions meant to restrain such conduct. In the Global South, regimes such as the Myanmar junta have waged unremitting violence against the country’s citizens, including the expulsion of lakhs of Rohingya since 2017, with scarcely a world response. Both actions stem from a faith in power and in “might being right”, cocking a snook at an international order painstakingly built since 1945 but limited by the self-seeking actions of the great powers.

In such a milieu, it has fallen to jurists of international courts and investigators of human rights bodies to rise to the occasion to name illegal acts accurately and to sensitise the world to them, even if their findings are not binding or their judgments go unenforced. The Committee describes judges as “those who guard the thin red line between order and chaos” and in recognising Ms. Pillay, it has honoured their wider work. In doing so, it has also rightly offered a corrective against itself.

Published – October 11, 2026 01:00 am IST

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Oncenter, on October 9, 2026, in Syracuse.
| Photo Credit: AP

South African-born jurist and former U.N. human rights chief Navanethem “Navi” Pillay sits at the Nuremberg Forum, Germany, on October 9, 2026, following the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize announcement.
| Photo Credit: AP

President Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, October 7, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Announcement of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The prize was awarded for their discoveries of light-gated ion channels and
optogenetics — a revolutionary technique that allows scientists to study how
nerve cells control memories, emotions and behaviour in the living brain.

It began with a simple question: How does a single-celled alga know which way to swim
when it senses light?

Peter Hegemann became fascinated by Chlamydomonas, a microscopic alga that moves
towards a light source. In the early 2000s, his research led to the discovery of
channelrhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein found on the surface of the algal cell.

When exposed to blue light, channelrhodopsin opens a channel that allows charged ions
to flow into the cell, generating an electrical impulse. Hegemann and his
collaborators discovered that the protein could make other cells sensitive to light,
laying the foundation for a revolutionary way of controlling cells with light.

Working alongside Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel helped reveal the remarkable properties
of channelrhodopsin.

The discovery showed that this protein could act like a light-controlled switch. When
blue light hits channelrhodopsin, a channel opens and charged ions flow through it,
producing an electrical signal. Crucially, the researchers found that the protein
could make different types of cells respond to light.

This insight would prove transformative for neuroscience: if a light-sensitive
protein could be introduced into nerve cells, scientists could potentially switch
their activity on or off with light.

Karl Deisseroth took the discovery of channelrhodopsin from algae into the world of
neuroscience.

He introduced the gene for channelrhodopsin into nerve cells from rats. When he
illuminated these cells with blue light, the cells generated nerve signals.
Published in 2005, the breakthrough demonstrated that light could be used to control
the activity of nerve cells with remarkable precision.

Two years later, Deisseroth took the technique a crucial step further, showing that
this light-controlled switch could work in the brains of living mice.

The method became known as optogenetics. It gave researchers an unprecedented way to
control specific groups of nerve cells and investigate how neural circuits shape
memories, feelings and behaviours.

File picture of Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) urged her compatriots to fight for freedom against “State terrorism”, as she said she was coming out of hiding to travel to Norway after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in her absence.

Ms. Machado, who won the Nobel for challenging President Nicolas Maduro’s grip on power, has not been seen in public for months after threats to her life.

Her daughter accepted the prize on her behalf in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, and delivered her blistering acceptance speech, slamming the country’s leader for crimes against the Venezuelan people.

“What we Venezuelans can offer the world is the lesson forged through this long and difficult journey: that to have democracy, we must be willing to fight for freedom,” said Ana Corina Sosa Machado.

In a call with the chair of the Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, published just before the ceremony, Ms. Machado said she was “very sad and very sorry” that she would not make it in time but was on her way to Oslo.

Mr. Frydnes, for his part, urged Mr. Maduro to accept his 2024 election defeat and resign.

“Lay the foundation for a peaceful transition to democracy. Because that is the will of the Venezuelan people,” he added in a speech, to applause.

‘State terrorism’

Ms. Machado in her speech also denounced kidnappings and torture under Mr. Maduro’s rule, calling them “crimes against humanity” and “state terrorism, deployed to bury the will of the people”.

Despite her absence from the ceremony, Nobel officials said she was “safe” and would arrive in Oslo by Thursday (December 11) at the latest.

Venezuela has warned Ms. Machado that she would be labelled a “fugitive” if she left the country, putting her at risk of arrest when attempting to re-enter.

But her daughter assured the audience that her mother would return. “She wants to live in a free Venezuela, and she will never give up on that purpose,” Ana Corina Sosa Machado said.

Ms. Ana Corina Machado’s mother and three daughters, and some Latin American heads of state, including Argentine President Javier Milei, were at the prize-giving at Oslo’s City Hall.

While organisers said Ms. Machado had previously indicated she would attend, doubts had already been raised when a traditional press conference with the award winner on Tuesday (December 9) was first postponed and then cancelled.

Ms. Machado has accused Mr. Maduro of stealing Venezuela’s July 2024 election which she was banned from. Her claim is backed by much of the international community.

She has been hailed for her efforts in favour of democracy but also been criticised for aligning herself with U.S. President Donald Trump, to whom she has dedicated her Nobel.

The Oslo ceremony coincides with a large U.S. military build-up in the Caribbean in recent weeks and deadly strikes on what Washington says are drug smuggling boats.

Mr. Maduro insists that the goal of the U.S. operations — which Ms. Machado has said are justified — is to topple the government and seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.

Not seen since January

Since going into hiding, Ms. Machado’s only public appearance was on January 9, in Caracas where she protested against Mr. Maduro’s inauguration for his third term.

The opposition claimed its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, won the election. He now lives in exile and was also in Oslo on Wednesday (December 10).

Multiple other Nobel Peace Prize winners have been unable to collect their prizes in person. Family members usually do so on their behalf, Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken explained this week.

Doubts had been raised about how Ms. Machado would return to Venezuela if she made the trip. Her refusal to leave the country has helped boost her political power there.

“She risks being arrested if she returns even if the authorities have shown more restraint with her than with many others, because arresting her would have a very strong symbolic value,” said Benedicte Bull, a professor specialising in Latin America at the University of Oslo.

On the other hand, “she is the undisputed leader of the opposition, but if she were to stay away in exile for a long time, I think that would change and she would gradually lose political influence”, she added.

The Nobel laureates in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics all received their prizes from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf at a separate ceremony in Stockholm on Wednesday (December 10) before a lavish banquet.

The prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and the sum of 11 million kronor ($1.2 million) — which is shared when several laureates are honoured in the same category.

Published – December 10, 2025 11:26 pm IST

Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President Donald Trump was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (October 10, 2025) despite jockeying from his fellow Republicans, various world leaders and — most vocally — himself.

Opposition activist María Corina Machado of Venezuela was awarded the prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honouring her “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

Mr. Trump, who has long coveted the prestigious prize, has been outspoken about his desire for the honour during both of his presidential terms, particularly lately as he takes credit for ending conflicts around the world. He has expressed doubts that the Nobel committee would ever grant him the award.

“They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday (October 9).

Although President Trump received a number of nominations for the prize, many of them occurred after the Feb. 1 deadline for the 2025 award, which fell just a week and a half into his first term. His name was, however, put forth in December by Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York, her office said in a statement, for his brokering of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.

Nevertheless, Mr. Trump and his supporters are likely to view the decision to pass him over for the award as a deliberate affront to the U.S. leader, particularly after the president’s involvement in getting Israel and Hamas to initiate the first phase of ending their devastating two-year-old war.

The peace prize, first awarded in 1901, was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts. Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will that the prize should go to someone “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Three sitting U.S. presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Barack Obama in 2009. Jimmy Carter won the prize in 2002, a full two decades after leaving office. Former Vice-President Al Gore received the prize in 2007.

Mr. Obama, who was a focus of Mr. Trump’s attacks well before the Republican was elected, won the prize early in his tenure as president.

“He got the prize for doing nothing,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Obama on Thursday (October 9). “They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.”

As one of his reasons for deserving the award, Mr. Trump often says he has ended seven wars, though some of the conflicts the president claims to have resolved were merely tensions, and his role in easing them is disputed.

But while there is hope for the end of Israel and Hamas’ war, much remains uncertain about the aspects of the broader ceasefire plan, including whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza. And little progress seems to have been made on the war between Russia and Ukraine, a conflict Mr. Trump claimed during the 2024 campaign that he could end in one day. (He later said he made that remark in jest.)

Mr. Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Alaska in August — but not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — for a summit aimed at reaching peace, but he left empty-handed, and the war started by Russia’s invasion in 2022 has since raged on.

As Mr. Trump pushes for peaceful resolutions to conflicts abroad, the country he governs remains deeply divided and politically fraught. Mr. Trump has kicked off what he hopes to be the largest deportation program in American history to remove immigrants in the U.S. illegally. He is using the levers of government, including the Justice Department, to go after his perceived political enemies. He has sent the military into U.S. cities over local opposition to stop crime and crack down on immigration enforcement.

He withdrew the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming. He touched off global trade wars with his on-again, off-again tariffs, which he wields as a threat to bend other countries and companies to his will. He asserted presidential war powers by declaring cartels to be unlawful combatants and launching lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean that he alleged were carrying drugs.

The full list of people nominated is secret, but anyone who submits a nomination is free to talk about it. Mr. Trump’s detractors say supporters, foreign leaders and others are submitting Mr. Trump’s name for nomination for the prize — and, specifically, announcing it publicly — not because he deserves it but because they see it as a way to manipulate him and stay in his good graces.

Others who formally submitted a nomination for Mr. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — but after this year’s deadline — include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Pakistan’s government, all citing his work in helping end conflicts in their regions.

Published – October 10, 2025 08:01 pm IST