South African jurist Navi Pillay made sarcastic remarks about sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with US President Donald Trump after being awarded the honor. She said that if the people present applauded more, she might share the award with Trump.
Trump has long aspired to win this prize and has not hidden his desire to win it. He has previously exerted immense pressure on the Norwegian Committee to award him this prestigious honor.
On Wednesday, Trump told journalists, I have done things that no one else has ever done. I am not boasting, I am just telling you the facts. Probably no president has ever resolved a war. I have resolved eight wars.
The Secretary General of the international human rights organization Amnesty International published a video on the social media platform X. It shows Pillay being congratulated with applause in Nuremberg, Germany, following the announcement of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. At that time, she said, If you applaud a little more, I might just share this award with Trump.
Her first reaction upon hearing the news of the award was that it must be a joke. The 85-year-old Pillay said, As a lawyer and judge, I still want to verify the matter. She wanted to confirm whether the news was true.
Pillay also highlighted her work as the head of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel regarding Israel's actions in Gaza. That commission concluded in a report last year that genocide was taking place in Gaza. The commission does not speak officially on behalf of the UN.
Pillay said, The last thing I did was submit a report on Gaza, identifying what is happening there as genocide.
She further said, You can imagine how surprised I was when one of the main reactions to that report was praise for my courage. Why should it take courage to tell the truth?
Amid Trump's dissatisfaction with not winning the Nobel Peace Prize last year, the White House accused the Nobel Committee of prioritizing politics over peace. That year, the award went to Venezuelan opposition politician and democracy activist Maria Corina Machado. She received this recognition for her role in the movement against the country's government.
Later, Machado symbolically handed her Nobel medal to Trump in recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom.
At the time of this year's award announcement, the Nobel Committee expressed concern over the decline in international law and global respect for the law. According to the committee, We see a trend toward power politics instead of legal frameworks and global respect for the law.
The committee also stated, Whenever the dominance of might over justice is established, it undermines stability, trust, and peaceful coexistence.
The Nobel Peace Prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma, and 1.2 million US dollars. The award will be handed over to Pillay at an official ceremony in Oslo, the capital of Norway, on December 10. The day marks the death anniversary of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prizes.
