The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today congratulated South African jurist and former UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ms. Pillay has served as a judge in her native South Africa and on international courts investigating war crimes. She led a U.N. panel that determined that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a finding the Israeli government rejected. She dedicated her Nobel Prize to survivors of international crimes.
SEE: Nobel Peace Prize Live Updates: Navi Pillay, Human Rights Lawyer, Wins – The New York Times
In a statement, CAIR said:
“We welcome the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision to recognize human rights lawyer Navi Pillay with this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and we congratulate her on this deserved honor. Between Judge Pillay’s role as the United Nations’ top human rights official, her service as judge on the International Criminal Court, her historic investigation of the Rwandan genocide, and her leadership of the committee that recognized Israel’s genocide in Gaza, she has spent decades strengthening international humanitarian law.
“It is important to note that the Nobel Prize Committee caused immense damage to its reputation by awarding last year’s prize to Maria Machado, a supporter of the Gaza genocide, an anti-Muslim extremist, and an ally of fascist movements in Europe and Israel’s far-right Likud Party. Recognizing a worthy honoree like Ms. Pillay this year does not undo the damage caused, but it is a step back in the right direction.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]