Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay, a South African jurist of Indian Tamil origin who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026, has called for collective action and personal reflection to eliminate caste discrimination. She advocated for equal treatment, supporting victims, and speaking up for human rights. In an exclusive telephonic interaction with
Subashini Vijayakumar of TNIE, the ad hoc judge on the International Court of Justice speaks about her Tamil roots, the persistence of caste bias and the quest for justice for Sri Lankan Tamils. Excerpts:
Your family has Tamil roots, though you were born and raised in South Africa. How has your Tamil identity shaped your life?
Let me begin with an apology. My parents were born in South Africa and did not speak Tamil. My paternal grandfather was from Vathalagundu, near Madurai. But these are still my roots, and I do feel a connection to them.
More than 16 years after Sri Lanka’s civil war, many Tamil families are still waiting for justice. Do you think they will ever get justice, and what should the international community do?
More than anything, they want to know what happened to their loved ones in the war. When I was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, I visited Jaffna. The world wants to support them. The solution is to ensure a supportive environment for their demands, whether they seek a separate state or justice for the crimes that were committed.
We also need to be patient. I never thought apartheid, which discriminated against people based on their colour, would end in South Africa. But we received support from the whole world, and it ended. I also believe in collective action. They must keep the issue alive to find solutions.
