Nobel Peace Prize laureate criticizes Trump.. “He needs a law lesson”

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

Navi Pillay, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2026, on Wednesday denounced the sanctions that she described as “illegal” imposed by US President Donald Trump on the International Criminal Court, saying that it “needs a lesson in international law.”

Pillay, who was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, added that the announcement of US sanctions on the court just hours after she won the Nobel Prize was not a coincidence, but rather came “in response to the failure to award the prize to President Trump,” according to what Agence France-Presse reported.

In response to a question about her letter to Trump, the 85-year-old judge said, “Call your legal advisors to explain to you what international law is.” She added, "He must summon his advisors to explain to him why we say that his interference in the work of an independent international court is illegal."

It is noteworthy that the United States announced, on Friday, sanctions against the International Criminal Court aimed at paralyzing its daily operations. The court tries individuals on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

While the Trump administration pledged to dismantle the court “stone by stone,” angry that its judges issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

The sanctions that will affect the court's technological and banking operations will enter into force after six months. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten urged talks with Washington during this period to discuss reforms to the court, which is based in The Hague.

But Pillay considered that talk about reforming the International Criminal Court was nothing but a “euphemism,” adding that what Trump wants is “a pledge not to conduct investigations against American citizens.”

“You cannot do that, because you cannot adopt double standards,” she said. “You cannot selectively pursue one group of people over another.”

"This would set a very bad and dangerous precedent," she added.

Pillay also responded to Israeli officials who expressed their anger over awarding her the Nobel Prize, after she chaired the United Nations independent international investigation committee that concluded last year that genocide had occurred in Gaza, while Netanyahu described her as “fanatic.” “I think that is very hurtful and insulting,” Pillay said.

In addition, Pillay said that she is still digesting the news of her winning the award, and she found it difficult to believe it at first, “because they give their awards to a very small number of women, and this is a glaring disparity in practice until now.”

At the age of eighty-five, she fears that she will not be able to travel around the world to defend international justice, benefiting from the momentum given to her voice by winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

"I think age will limit me a little bit. I can't be as active as I was," she said, noting that she visited 79 countries when she was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

She explained that she was consulting others about the best ways to spend the prize amount of 12 million Swedish krona ($1.2 million), hinting at the possibility of investing part of it in her home country, South Africa.

"Africa is suffering. South Africa is suffering. It is very difficult to raise funding there," she said.

“The University of KwaZulu-Natal has established a unit bearing my name, so I will start discussions with it. I believe in educating children and young people,” she added.