Navi Pillay, a South African jurist who headed the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which found Israel had committed genocide, won this year’s Sydney Peace Prize. Consortium News was there.
On giving the Sydney Peace Prize to Judge Navi Pillay last week, Lord Mayor Clover Moore of Sydney, Australia, said:
“Six weeks ago, an independent United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
It was a culmination of two years of thorough investigation by this eminent commission of inquiry, chaired by the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize laureate, Navi Pillay. In a world where we are told not to believe what we see and hear and feel, this is a reliable truth.
As a consequence, all countries, all signatories to the United Nations, including Israel, are obliged to fulfill their legal obligations under international law to end the genocide and punish those responsible. And while some countries have acted, many more have not.
Throughout her life Judge Navi Pillay has fiercely defended the international legal order and has been a powerful force against the global rise of impunity for those responsible for war crimes, for crimes against humanity and genocide.
She has been at the center of some of humanity’s most brutal conflicts. Judge Pillay, your achievements are all the more profound given your background, growing up under apartheid in South Africa.
Judge Pillay overcame structural discrimination to become the first woman of color to open a law practice in Natal province. She went on to become the first woman of color appointed judge to the High Court in South Africa, and then became the first woman of color to serve as a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
As a recipient of Australia’s only peace prize, Judge Pillay, you stand amongst the world’s most courageous voices for peace and justice, including the late Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, professors Noam Chomsky and Joseph Stiglitz, former President of Ireland and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, and more.
The City of Sydney is proud to support the Sydney Peace Prize, which we have done from its inception in 1998. I am proud to be its patron. Like the Peace Prize Foundation, the city seeks a peaceful, just and compassionate world.
Cities which are now the home to more than half the world’s population, can be powerful agents for change. As a city, our policies and plans are underscored by the values of diversity, equity and inclusion, be they around rising inequality, homelessness and housing affordability, accessibility, the rights of the LGBTQI plus communities, the opportunities for First Nations people, and also celebrating the cultures of our multicultural communities.
Congratulations to Judge Navi Pillay. It is an honor to recognize you with the Sydney Peace Prize. Thank you for your moral clarity and your significant contribution to making this world a better place. We have learned from your work that crisis never erupt without a warning, and that peace depends on those willing to speak truth to power.
That’s why we all have a responsibility to use our voices and our education, and our many other advantages. When we witness violations of public rights, corruption, repression and discrimination.”
The Sydney Peace prize is presented by the Sydney Peace Foundation, a non- profit organization associated with the University of Sydney. In 2011, Julian Assange was awarded a special gold medal from the Foundation. Past winners of the Peace Prize include:
Desmond Tutu
Arundhati Roy
Noam Chomsky
Mary Robinson
John Pilger
and Vandana Shiva
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I could not agree more !
Australia, better late than never coming to the anti-Apartheid peace table!
On whose side was Australia on in 1967 when Judge Navi Pillay was setting out on a course in pursuit of international justice for all?
What was it specifically that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back?
It certainly was not Australia’s reputation of “citizenship equity”!
Its Peace Prize today, hardly even cuts the mustard, for how dastardly it let its most formidable citizen Julian Assange languish in Britain’s harshest maximum security prison for his attempts to bring truth to the forefront of the international publics eyes; being formally charged, with a fabricated arrest warrant in 2012 and held incommunicado for all those many years.
This crime against humanity going unpunished to this day.
Yet another example of the audacity of power walking away scot-free from “crimes committed against humanity”.
The Sydney Peace prize has nothing to do with the Australian government. It is presented by the Sydney Peace Foundation, a non profit organisation associated with the University of Sydney. In fact, in 2011 Julian Assange was awarded a special gold medal from the Foundation. Past winners include:
Desmond Tutu
Arundhati Roy
Noam Chomsky
Mary Robinson
John Pilger
Vandana Shiva
What shall I say? I shot my mouth off!
“The Sydney Peace prize has nothing to do with the Australian government.”
Just as the Nobel Peace prize award has nothing to do with a display of international powerplay politics.
Just as the U.S. regime has nothing whatsoever to do with curtailing academic freedom!
Notwithstanding my berating of Australia and yours of me, the 6 winners cited, all very worthy human beings for their unstinting contributions to the betterment of humankind