South African-born jurist Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize for her work in international justice

Her win is sure to be seen as a high-profile rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have both rejected the findings of the U.N. OSLO, Norway (AP) — Navi Pillay, a South African-born jurist and former U.N.

human rights chief whose career has spanned from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her efforts to promote international law as it comes under attack.Her win is sure to be seen as a high-profile rebuke to U.S. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have both rejected the findings of the U.N. The leaders also have been highly critical of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; Pillay has worked at both.Pillay’s work “is a source of hope and inspiration to all those who seek to bring about a more peaceful world,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, in announcing her win in Oslo, Norway, as part of the peace prize’s 125th anniversary.The Norwegian committee said it sought to strengthen international law at a time of conflict, and Watne Frydnes said Pillay’s award was a message to those seeking to undermine “the international rules-based system and the institutions.”While her career has been global in scope, criticism often has been fiercely local, notably in places like Israel and in apartheid-era South Africa as she and peers took on some of the world’s most painful and sensitive legal issues and most vulnerable populations.Pillay, 85, received the news while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany, the location of the trials of Nazi war criminals that helped lay the foundations of international law.“Firstly, at this venue, your applause means a great deal to me,” she said to a standing ovation.

“You know, you don’t want to receive an award, prize or anything unless the public agrees that you deserve this.”She later told a news conference that leaders have a “legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war.”She chaired an investigation that determined Israel committed genocide in GazaPillay chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council. The commission a year ago concluded Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.Gaza was among Pillay’s first comments Friday after hearing she …