2025 Navi Pillay

The Sydney Peace Foundation is proud to award the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, distinguished international jurist, and lifelong advocate for justice. Pillay is recognised for her unwavering commitment to defending fundamental human rights, promoting peace with justice, and championing the rights of women and marginalised communities. Her life’s work has been a powerful force against the global rise in impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, pushing instead for accountability, the rule of law, and the protection of human dignity.

Born into a Tamil family under apartheid in Durban, South Africa, Pillay overcame deep structural discrimination to become the first non-white woman to open a law practice in Natal Province as well as the first non-white woman judge of the High Court of South Africa. She was a pioneering voice for justice, representing political prisoners and anti-apartheid activists, often at significant personal risk, and her work has had a significant lasting impact in addressing injustice.

On accepting the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize nomination, Navi Pillay said: “I am deeply honoured to accept Australia’s premier international prize for peace, awarded by the Sydney Peace Foundation. To be recognised for a lifetime’s work devoted to human rights, peace, justice and equality, is both humbling and profoundly meaningful.

This award is not mine alone. It belongs to all those who, across decades and continents, have stood up against injustice-often at great personal cost. It belongs to every survivor who found the courage to testify, to every human rights defender who remains steadfast in the face of threats and hostility, and to every young person who dares to believe in a better, more just world.

We live in a world today still marred by war, poverty, racism and inequality. But we also live in a world where voices for justice are louder, more connected, and more courageous than ever before. The path ahead is neither easy nor short, but it is a path we must walk together- with integrity, with compassion, and with determination.”

Professor Ben Saul is Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism said:

“Navi Pillay is an icon of the international human rights movement, from confronting apartheid and promoting gender equality in South Africa, to serving on highest national and international courts, to leading the United Nations’ global human rights system. She has driven the law in progressive new directions, built lasting coalitions of human rights defenders, held the most powerful governments to account, and above all brought hope to victims.”

Pillay’s international career is marked by a series of landmark achievements:

• In 1967 was the first woman to start a law practice in Natal Province, South Africa.
• In 1992 co-founded the international women’s rights group Equality Now.
• Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), where she presided over the first international ruling that rape can constitute an act of genocide, reshaping international humanitarian law and advancing justice for survivors of sexual violence in conflict.
• Judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), playing a key role in its formative years and in the global movement toward accountability for crimes against humanity.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008–2014), where she fearlessly addressed rights abuses by both state and non-state actors, advocated for the rights of women, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTQ+ communities, and worked tirelessly to promote accountability, transparency, and the rule of law.
• From 2019 to present – Serving as Judge Ad Hoc of the International Court of Justice in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v Myanmar). She is also the President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty based in Madrid, the President of the Advisory Council of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and the Chair of the Quasi-Judicial Inquiry into Detention in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and heads the Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Her unwavering independence, legal expertise, and moral clarity have made her one of the most respected human rights figures of our time. Even after leaving formal UN office, she continues to serve on high-level UN panels and international commissions, including investigations into Syria, Sri Lanka, and Gaza.

Navi Pillay’s lifelong commitment to justice, equality, and human dignity serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for all those working to build a more just and peaceful world.

Laureate Media