Nobel peace laureate calls US sanctions on International Criminal Court 'unacceptable'

Nobel peace laureate calls US sanctions on International Criminal Court 'unacceptable'.

Key points

• Along with serving on the ICC, Pillay was the UN human rights high commissioner from 2008 to 2014, and headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI).
• According to The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday, pillay, who once sat on the ICC, was this year's recipient of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked the awarding of the prize to Pillay demonstrated the Nobel committee had "lost its moral compass" by honouring "a bigot".
• Both the United States, whose leader Donald Trump has long coveted the award for himself, and ally Israel condemned her being awarded the honour.
• Hours after Pillay was named the laureate, the United States confirmed new sanctions against the ICC, provoking swift condemnation from member states and the United Nations.

Nobel peace laureate calls US sanctions on International Criminal Court 'unacceptable'. AFP Published October 10, 2026 Updated October 10, 2026 08: 02pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel.

Jurist and former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, on Saturday called sanctions confirmed by the US on the International Criminal Court (ICC) "unheard of" and "unacceptable".

"There is so much tension and anxiety over the continued existence of international courts, mainly the International Criminal Court in The Hague, " Pillay remarked via video link from Nuremberg during an event at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, lamenting "there are hundreds of staff who feel they are under threat".

"Most importantly, sanctions have been confirmed by one country against the judges, just for the judicial orders they problem. This is unheard of, unacceptable, " the 85-year-old South African lawyer remarked.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarked Washington would ban transactions with what he described as a "rogue court", escalating a long-running campaign by Trump's administration against the Hague-based tribunal.

Notably, the court rejected the US sanctions as an attack on international law and cautioned in an official note that "history will judge this moment".

Along with serving on the ICC, Pillay was the UN human rights high commissioner from 2008 to 2014, and headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI). It discovered last year that genocide was occurring in Gaza. The body does not speak on behalf of the UN. Israel has rejected the COI's findings, calling them "distorted and false".

Israel's foreign ministry remarked the award legitimised "anti-Israel hatred", adding that it thought that Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be "applauding from hell".

Trump, who last month called on ICC member states to quit the court, meanwhile labelled the committee's choice as "a disgraceful and embarrassing decision", telling a rally of his supporters in Syracuse, New York, he had "never heard of" Pillay.

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