From growing up in a slum outside Durban to studying law in a segregated university, Navi Pillay’s experience in apartheid-era South Africa instilled in her a lifelong belief in the importance of international courts in defending people’s rights. Now she should use her newly won stature to advance the rule of law at home.
PRETORIA—The choice of South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was a striking show of support for the rules-based multilateral system. It was also a slap in the face to US President Donald Trump, who has shamelessly lobbied for the prize while simultaneously attacking the international legal order. At a political rally shortly after the announcement, Trump dismissed Pillay as “a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of.”