Madrid/The Nobel Peace Prize granted this friday to the South African jurist Navanethem Navi Pillay has sparked criticism that goes beyond the protests of Donald Trump and the Israeli Government. The UN Watch organization, based in Geneva, has recovered accusations against the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, whom it reproaches for her silence in the face of the abuses of several dictatorships, including Cuba, and her actions in a scandal related to the delivery of information about dissidents to the Chinese authorities.
Among those who supported the award was the terrorist group Hamas, which considered it “an important step towards international justice” and recognition of the crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. In a statement Released on Friday night, the Islamist movement highlighted the report of the United Nations commission chaired by Pillay that described Israel’s actions in Gaza in response to the massacre of October 7, 2023 as “genocide.”
Pillay’s ties to Havana date back almost two decades. In July 2008, during her appointment as high commissioner, Cuba expressed its support for the jurist representing the Non-Aligned Movement. In March 2010, when the death of the political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo unleashed international condemnations, the South African posed smiling in Geneva with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.
A former UN official who this Friday accused Pillay of having been “complicit in the Uyghur genocide”
Both met again on April 26, 2019 in Havana, during a visit by Pillay as president of the International Commission against the Death Penalty. The jurist thanked the Government for its hospitality and its willingness to listen to recommendations to abolish capital punishment. However, the Penal Code approved three years later Not only did it maintain the death penalty, but it expanded the number of crimes punishable by that sanction from 20 to 24.
The most serious complaint comes from Emma Reilly, a former UN official who this Friday accused Pillay of having been “complicit in the Uyghur genocide.” According to their testimony, between 2008 and 2014, the Office of the High Commissioner provided Beijing with the names of activists who planned to participate in sessions of the Human Rights Council, exposing them to possible reprisals.
“The winner is an absolute disgrace,” Reilly declared, according to a statement from UN Watch. The former official maintains that more than 50 dissidents were identified to the Chinese authorities and that some family members suffered intimidation, arbitrary arrests, torture and disappearances. He also accused Pillay of ignoring warnings about such practices.
In April 2024, Reilly submitted documentation before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament about alleged United Nations favors to China, including the cases of British activists. The UN has rejected that these practices endangered human rights defenders and maintains that it stopped confirming certain identities to Beijing since 2015, an explanation that Reilly questions.
“In 2010, the Nobel Committee honored Liu Xiaobo for standing up to the Chinese dictatorship. Pillay refused to attend his ceremony. Now the Committee awards him the same prize”
Another episode has returned to the news. In December 2010, Pillay did not attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, then imprisoned by communist authorities. Human rights organizations interpreted his absence as a concession to pressure from Beijing.
“In 2010, the Nobel Committee honored Liu Xiaobo for standing up to the Chinese dictatorship. Pillay refused to attend his ceremony. Now the Committee awards him the same prize,” recalled Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, who demanded explanations for the recognition.
The organization has also recovered a 2011 study about Pillay’s public pronouncements during her first two years as high commissioner. According to the report, he remained silent about human rights violations in 34 countries considered “not free” by Freedom House, including Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Eritrea. Instead, the report counted 21 statements related to the Middle East and North Africa, nine of them dedicated to Israel. UN Watch considers that these figures show a selective application of human rights principles.
Objections also come from international Jewish organizations. The World Jewish Congress, chaired by Ronald Lauder, condemned Pillay’s election, while the Simon Wiesenthal Center and B’nai B’rith International questioned his impartiality as head of the United Nations commission on the occupied Palestinian territories.
“I don’t comment on the Nobel Prizes, I don’t value them,” said Pedro Sánchez to avoid congratulating María Corina Machado.
The criticism had already affected another recognition of the jurist. In August 2022, the German association responsible for the Otto Hahn Peace Medal canceled a ceremony planned to honor her in Berlin, claiming that she needed to examine the accusations made against her.
Trump, for his part, attacked the Nobel Committee during a rally in New York, while Netanyahu accused the jury of having lost its “moral compass.” On the same day of the announcement, Washington imposed new sanctions on the International Criminal Court, an institution in which Pillay served as a judge, although the measures are part of a previous confrontation between the US Administration and the court.
The award, on the other hand, was celebrated by leaders such as the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the head of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez. The latter praised Pillay for dedicating his life to “pursuing impunity and defending the weak against the powerful.” “From the Government of Spain we join in the recognition, we applaud your work,” wrote in X just two hours after the announcement.
The speed contrasts with his silence regarding the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 2025 to the Venezuelan opponent María Corina Machado. So, Sanchez justified his refusal to congratulate her with the argument that he did not value those awards. “I don’t comment on the Nobel Prizes, I don’t value them,” he told Cadena SER, despite the fact that he had previously congratulated other winners.
