Navi Pillay calls for action, not words, to defend international justice

South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay has called for the defense of international law. At the age of 85, this former judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and of the similar bodies has spent her life fighting for peace and justice. In this exclusive interview with news agency Associated Press, she speaks about the moment she heard the news of her win last week. The director of the Nuremberg Principles Academy, he tiptoed into the room and called me out. and then I could see his face there's something wrong he's almost full of tears and he and his assistant were saying you tell her, you tell her and then they asked me to sit what am I going to think something happened to my children I have two daughters grown up of course but still so you know I went icy cold with fear and then he says I have good news for you and I said why didn't you tell me that in the first place it actually took me a while to get out of the fear in which my heart had sunk to appreciate this award. I just feel it's the most appropriate award. And people have said very kindly, of course, the most appropriate candidate to receive it. But it's not that. It's so important to support the rule of law. Otherwise, there's going to be chaos if individual states or individual warriors start a war. all of us are at risk. Pillay was honoured for her lifelong commitment to human rights, justice and accountability, undertaking high-profile work investigating allegations of genocide including in Rwanda, Myanmar and Gaza. You know that I delivered the first judgement on genocide on the Rwanda tribunal together with my two colleagues. So it's not easy. It's actually very careful scrutiny of the acts on the ground, the speeches made by leaders, political and military leaders, and various activities. The goal of the Genocide Convention is prevention. So we're steps taken to prevent. Pillay says she hopes her win will remind world leaders of their legal obligation to uphold human rights. But just hours after she was awarded the prize, the United States announced sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court, where Pillay once sat as judge, as part of Washington's campaign to dismantle the institution.