The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 was awarded Friday to Navanethem Pillay “for her efforts to promote peace and international law.”

Calling her a person “with exceptional courage and integrity” and somebody who “has led the way towards a more comprehensive global legal order,” the Nobel Institute said that Pillay “has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.”

“Navi Pillay’s commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass are constants in a long career,” the Nobel Institute said. “Born into a family of Indian Tamil origin under apartheid in Durban, South Africa, Pillay became a lawyer and legal pioneer, confronting deep structural discrimination, segregation and exclusion. A common thread runs from her early work defending Nelson Mandela and others who stood up against apartheid to her service as a judge in some of the key international court cases of our time.”

Pillay has served as a judge on the High Court in South Africa, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court in her career. She was also the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and, until recently, she chaired the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Pillay is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice in the case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide.

“In historic international court cases, she has shown that legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence,” the Nobel Institute said. “Navi Pillay has also contributed to strengthen the institutions of international law. Her independence, expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time.”

“In awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wants to remind the world that the rule of law — national and international — underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts non-violently. Peace requires justice,” the Nobel Institute added.

“History has shown that a world operating without the rule of law is unjust, unwise and inhumane. The judges — those who guard the thin red line between order and chaos — are therefore highly deserving of our praise,” the Nobel Institute said in their announcement. “But today, as these same judges are sanctioned, and their institutions are attacked, we need people of courage, vision and determination — qualities that Navi Pillay demonstrates in her work on the bench.”

Pillay, who was born in 1941 and has two daughters, holds a Master of Law and a Doctorate of Juridical Science from Harvard University.

“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 springs directly from Alfred Nobel’s will,” the Nobel Institute said. “Navi Pillay strengthens fraternity between nations and — by systematically advancing the use of tribunals for peace and justice — she provides substance, direction and motivation for peace conferences in their modern form.”

“Navi Pillay is one of the great defenders of international legal principles in our time,” the Nobel Institute added. “Her distinguished career reminds us of the need to support, fortify and expand the global rule of law. Navi Pillay’s commitment to justice and human dignity is a source of hope and inspiration to all who seek to bring about a more peaceful world.”

The announcement was made by the chair of The Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway.

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An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man in a residential New York City neighborhood Thursday afternoon during what the agency called a “targeted enforcement operation.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, calling the incident an “outrage,” said the man was in a vehicle with a 5-year-old child at the time.

“School had just gotten out. The street was crowded with families and children. When the ICE agent opened fire, a 5-year-old child … was in the back seat of the car,” Mamdani said in a late-night press conference on Thursday. “Thank God that child is physically unharmed.”

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the 28-year-old man who was shot was taken to the hospital with a gunshot to the neck below his left ear and arrived in stable condition. She said the boy, who authorities believe to be the man’s son, was safe and in the care of a family member.

DHS says shooting happened during ‘targeted enforcement operation’
The shooting occurred around 4 p.m. ET in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Marble Hill, the NYPD said.

During a news conference Friday, Marcos Charles, DHS’s executive associate director for enforcement and removal operations, said that ICE officers attempted to arrest the suspect, Oscar Belgal, a Dominican national who had an ICE detainer, and used their vehicles to block Belgal.

Charles said Belgal has alleged associations with the Trinitarios gang and has a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny and “multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession.”

He alleged that the gang was involved in a shooting of a CBP officer two years ago and Belgal had knowledge of the incident.

Charles alleged that Belgal “weaponized his vehicle” and smashed it into ICE vehicles.

“Our officers, using their training, and believing that their life and the life of their partners and the general public were in danger, and fired weapons,” Charles said.

Belgal was struck in the neck and ICE agents rendered aid before he was transported to the hospital, Charles said. He was later moved to a detention facility outside New York, according to Charles.

Charles said that DHS would pursue several criminal charges.

“We will continue to place him in removal proceedings, and we will continue to try to remove him from this country as quickly as possible following his charges,” he said.

When asked about the child in the car, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE officers were not aware the 5-year-old was in the car during the car stop. Mullin blamed Belgal for putting the 5-year-old in that situation.

“The focus on what took place is absolutely absurd,” he said.

Officers were wearing body-worn cameras, according to Mullin, and the body-worn cameras were on.

Mullin did not commit to releasing the footage and said there is a joint FBI and HSI investigation into the shooting underway.

NYPD: ICE officer fired 7 rounds

At the press conference Thursday night with the mayor, Tisch said the man who was shot has two prior arrests in New York City, including one for robbery in 2023 to which he pleaded guilty to grand larceny and another in 2025 for the criminal sale of a controlled substance, which is still pending.

Tisch said the NYPD, which had no involvement in the shooting, responded to the scene after the shooting, finding several men in “various forms of attire,” including some in construction-style vests, face masks and at least one carrying a long gun.

She said when officers arrived, the man who was shot was handcuffed and seated on the ground before NYPD officers placed him in one of their vehicles, rendered aid and took him to the hospital.

Evidence collected from the scene indicates at least one ICE agent fired seven rounds, Tisch said. There was ballistic damage to the windshield of the man’s vehicle, a Honda CR-V, and the back window was also shattered.

The moments leading up to the shooting were captured on NYPD surveillance cameras, Tisch said.

The video shows the man backing into a parking spot near a fire hydrant before a plainclothes federal law enforcement officer approaches the driver’s side door with his gun drawn, Tisch said. Another plainclothes officer approaches by the driver’s side headlight, she said.

The vehicle then starts to drive away and goes out of camera view, Tisch said. The NYPD cameras did not capture the shooting itself, she said.

An ICE vehicle, a gray four-door sedan, had damage to the front panel and the lower panel was fully disconnected, Tisch said.

The NYPD released body camera footage of their officers responding to the scene after the shooting. The footage showed the suspect sitting on the street as he was being treated for his wound. 

Bystanders are seen in the video shouting and cursing at the federal officers.

Mamdani said he spent 2 hours on phone with Trump, Mullin

At the press conference Thursday, Mamdani said he spent two hours on the phone with President Donald Trump and Mullin seeking to negotiate the release of the man who was shot.

But he said his efforts were not successful.

In a statement late Thursday night, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she had also spoken with Trump and the DHS secretary about the shooting.

“I expressed outrage on behalf of New Yorkers and urged them to halt ICE enforcement operations in New York,” Hochul said. “I also asked that any body camera footage of the shooting be released to the public so we can establish the facts and get to the truth.”

City officials have been told that ICE has been using a nearby Target parking lot on 225th Street as a staging area.

Protesters gathered in the hours following the shooting, some holding anti-ICE signs, as law enforcement worked the scene.

Later, hundreds of protesters gathered outside New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in upper Manhattan, where the man who was shot was being treated.

Mullin chastised the mayor and protesters during a news conference Friday.

“It’s shameful that you have a mayor that puts criminals above law-abiding citizens,” he said.

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The Trump administration has quietly organized a team of government attorneys to represent unaccompanied migrant children in immigration court, according to a federal notice.

The announcement, posted by the Department of Health and Human Services, says that HHS lawyers under a new agency division will “provide direct legal services to unaccompanied alien children.”

The development comes after the administration cut ties with a number of immigration advocacy groups that had previously provided those services.

Some of the duties listed in the notice include entering appearances on behalf of migrant children in immigration court and providing representation throughout an individual migrant child’s immigration proceeding.

Some immigration advocacy groups have raised concerns about the move, saying that the same government that is targeting migrant children under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown would also now be representing the minors in court.

“It is unconscionable that the same government that is attacking and trying to deport children would also pretend to provide them legal defense in immigration court,” said Michael Lukens, the executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, which used to receive funding through a government contract that was terminated.

“A fair day in court, which every child deserves, requires meaningful and independent advocates. HHS’ plan to assign government attorneys to defend kids is a boldly unethical position,” he said.

A spokesperson for the HHS did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

In December 2023, the Acacia Center for Justice became the prime contract holder with HHS for the Unaccompanied Children Program, overseeing subcontracts with more than 100 service providers that provide legal representation to more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

But earlier this year, the government cut ties with the group and awarded a controversial anti-human trafficking organization a no-bid $158 million contract to provide legal services to migrant children. In August, a small Texas law firm withdrew from consideration for a $150 million federal contract to represent unaccompanied migrant children after immigrant advocacy groups raised concerns about the firm’s degree of experience in immigration law.

The two awards prompted a group of Democratic lawyers to send a letter to HHS regarding their concerns over the government’s efforts to award new federal contracts to politically connected firms that they said lack immigration experience.

“Unaccompanied minors are the most vulnerable population in the immigration system,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Tx., previously told ABC News. “We have a moral and statutory duty to provide them with quality legal representation. The Trump administration’s attempt to cut out longstanding providers who are equipped to handle these cases jeopardizes the well-being of children.”

Immigrant advocacy groups have alleged that unaccompanied children and their sponsors are among those being targeted under the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown. Last year, ABC News reported that the administration was directing immigration agents to track down unaccompanied migrant children in the United States.

“If [HHS] attorneys are assigned to represent unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings, every federal agency involved in these children’s cases, including HHS, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland Security, would effectively be on the same side of the courtroom,” said Jennifer Podkul, the Chief of Global Policy and Advocacy for Kids in Need of Defense.

“This creates a closed system in which the government serves as custodian, prosecutor, judge, and now potentially counsel, leaving children with little opportunity to have their cases heard through a truly independent and fair process,” Podkul said. “Putting HHS attorneys in this role risks creating yet another pathway to fast-track vulnerable children toward deportation rather than ensuring their rights, safety, and best interests are protected.”

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