The African chapter of Priests Against Genocide, writing on behalf of the international network of more than 2,700 priests in 68 countries, has sent a letter congratulating Judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay on being awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
The letter is signed by Bishop Jan De Groef, retired of Bethlehem in the Free State, and 12 priests and abbots from South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Togo, Cameroon, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It pays tribute to Judge Pillay’s lifelong defence of human dignity: from defending detainees in apartheid South Africa, to her work at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she helped establish that rape can constitute an act of genocide, to leading the UN Commission of Inquiry that concluded genocide was being committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
“Across those decades, the setting changed, but your conviction did not: that no people stand outside the protection of the law, and no state stands above it,” the letter reads.
The signatories expressed their joy at seeing an African honoured in this way and their hope that her example will inspire future generations to speak truth to power and work resolutely for justice.
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