"Complicit in Genocide": Nobel Peace Prize Winner Who Turned Over Regime Opponents

Navi Pillay, the South African jurist who chaired the UN commission that accused Israel of genocide, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Alongside the award, testimony from a former UN employee claims that Pillay passed names of Uyghur activists to China, leading to arrests and torture. Israel's UN ambassador condemned the decision.

South African jurist Navi Pillay, 85, has been announced as the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay received the award for her efforts to promote peace and international law, following a career that included fighting apartheid, serving as a judge on the Rwanda Tribunal and the International Criminal Court, and serving as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. However, the award is controversial due to serious allegations. Attorney Emma Riley, a former employee of the commission, claimed that during Pillay's tenure, the UN passed lists of Uyghur regime opponents to Chinese authorities. According to Riley, the activists' families faced threats, and some were arrested, tortured, or sent to detention camps. Riley accused Pillay of "complicity in the Uyghur genocide." The claims are partially supported by official documentation: the former Dutch foreign minister confirmed in 2019 that the commission passed names to China. In Israel, Pillay is known as the chair of the UN commission of inquiry that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, condemned the decision, calling it "shameful."