Navi Pillay, 85, is a South African anti-apartheid lawyer turned international jurist who has “been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted,” the Nobel committee said.
She has served as a judge on the world’s most important courts of international law, including the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Court of Justice, as well as serving as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2008-2014. CNN reported.
Before turning to international law, she was integral to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, acting as a defense attorney for anti-apartheid activists and helping to secure rights for those imprisoned on Robben Island.
