African Priests Against Genocide congratulate Judge Navi Pillay on Nobel Peace Prize

Oct 15th, 2026

Priests Against Genocide - Africa, writing on behalf of an 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 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 express 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 unwaveringly for justice.

The letter is signed by Bishop Jan De Groef and twelve priests and abbots from South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Togo, Cameroon, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The full letter text follows:

14 October 2026

Dear Judge Pillay,

On behalf of the international network of Priests Against Genocide, more than 2,700 priests in 68 countries, we at Priests Against Genocide - Africa send you our warmest congratulations on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2026.

When the news reached us, it felt like a moment of grace. Many of us, in our parishes and communities, sit with people who have lost everything to violence, wars and genocides and wonder whether anyone in the wider world is listening. Your life has been an answer to that question. Again and again, you chose to listen, to stand beside those whom the powerful would rather forget, to name what others preferred to leave unspoken, be it Rwanda or Gaza, or elsewhere.

We remember the young lawyer in apartheid South Africa who defended detainees when the law itself was an instrument of oppression, and who refused to look away from torture in the cells. We recall the judge who, at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, helped ensure that those responsible for the 1994 genocide were held to account, and who helped establish for the first time that rape can constitute an act of genocide. And we think of the commission you led which, with great courage and under enormous pressure, concluded that 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.

For us in Africa, there is a special joy in seeing one of our own honoured in this way. You remind us that the struggle against apartheid gave the whole world something precious, and that courage learned in hard places can become a light for others far away.

It is our hope and prayer that your example will inspire future generations to speak truth to power, to refuse silence in the face of injustice, and to work unwaveringly for a world in which every human life is protected and cherished.

Young people everywhere need to know that one person's faithfulness to the truth can make a difference, and your life is living proof of that.

The prophet Amos wrote, "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Thank you for being part of that stream. We give thanks for you, we pray for your continued strength and good health, and we pledge to carry forward, in our own ministries, the work of defending all people from genocide, apartheid and mass atrocities.

With deep gratitude, respect, and blessings,

Fr Nicholas Makau, OMI, Kenya
Bishop Jan De Groef, South Africa
Fr Mokesh Morar, South Africa
Fr Kufre Afangide, SPS, Nigeria
Abbot Magloire Nkounga, Cameroon
Fr Matthew Charlesworth, SJ, Zimbabwe
Fr Peter-John Pearson, South Africa
Fr Peter Knox, SJ, South Africa
Abbot Kwaku Kpodzro, Togo
Fr Joseph Sene, OMI, Senegal
Abbot Jean-Paul Wasingya Musavuli, DRC
Fr Michael Lapsley, SSM, South Africa
Fr Jean-Baptiste Zeke, OSA, DRC
Priests Against Genocide - Africa