International jurist Navi Pillay to receive 2025 Sydney Peace Prize
The Sydney Peace Foundation is honoured to announce that Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and eminent international jurist, will receive the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize for a lifetime of advocating for accountability and responsibility in the face of crimes against humanity.
A former judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Court, and the first woman of colour to serve as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Judge Pillay has consistently championed international justice, truth-telling, and the protection of human dignity.
The Peace Prize jury selected Judge Pillay from a field of strong and venerable candidates “for a lifetime of advocating for fundamental human rights, peace with justice and the rights of women, all of which serves a clarion call in the face of a growing culture of impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, towards accountability and responsibility”.
Judge Pillay was officially announced as the 2025 recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday 22 May. The announcement ceremony was hosted by Sydney Peace Foundation patron and Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore, and attended by distinguished guests from the international legal, diplomatic, and human rights communities.
On accepting the prize, Judge 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.”
City of Sydney Lord Mayor and Sydney Peace Foundation Patron Clover Moore said: “In a world where human rights are too often disregarded and justice delayed, Navi Pillay stands as a fearless defender of the rule of law. From challenging apartheid in South Africa to holding war criminals accountable on the global stage, her lifelong pursuit of justice reminds us that peace is not passive – it demands courage, integrity, and action. The Sydney Peace Prize honours her unwavering commitment to human dignity and her profound impact on international human rights law. As victims of wars across the globe continue face intolerable suffering, it is hard to remain optimistic and to believe that the rule of law will triumph. This award, and Navi’s extraordinary lifelong contribution to peace, remind us that we all have a responsibility to speak up about violations to human rights, corruption, repression, discrimination and inequality and that when we do, we can shape a better world.”
Professor Ben Saul from the University of Sydney Law School and United Nations Special Rapporteur 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.”
Melanie Morrison, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, said: “With the international rules-based order under threat, this year we acknowledge a beacon of integrity in global justice. Judge Navi Pillay has spent decades holding the most powerful to account and giving voice to the victims of atrocities – from apartheid South Africa and the Rwandan genocide, to ongoing human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Myanmar.”
The Sydney Peace Prize will be formally awarded to Judge Pillay later in November 2025. She will travel to Australia to accept the Prize on Thursday 6 November at Sydney Town Hall.
About the Sydney Peace Prize
The Sydney Peace Prize is Australia’s international prize for peace, awarded by the Sydney Peace Foundation at the University of Sydney. The Prize recognises leading global voices that promote peace, justice and nonviolence. Laureates include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Professors Noam Chomsky and Joseph Stiglitz, Patrick Dodson, Naomi Klein, the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
For over two decades, the Sydney Peace Prize has been awarded with the generous support of the City of Sydney, the University of Sydney and a broad coalition of donors and partners. Please join us on this journey for a fairer, more just world. For more information email .
Media enquiries:
Melanie Morrison, Director, The Sydney Peace Foundation
M: +61 (0) 401 996 451
University of Sydney Media Office
M: +61 2 8627 0246 (diverts to mobile)