Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay urges US to defend human rights

Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay has urged the United States to return to its traditional role as a defender of human rights, amid a US campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Hours after Pillay was named the Peace Prize winner on Friday, the US announced sweeping sanctions against the ICC, her former employer.

“My message is, ‘You have to get back to playing your serious role as a leader, playing a liberatory role for the rest of the world’,” Pillay, told Reuters in The Hague, where she is a judge at the International Court of Justice.

She said the timing could not be a coincidence.

“I think it’s very unfortunate. However, the plans of targeting international criminal justice through the ICC were brewing all the time,” she said.

Pillay said the first thing she did on returning to The Hague was visit ICC staff to show solidarity with their work.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the ICC a “rogue court” on Friday and said it would never be allowed to prosecute Americans.

The new sanctions have been suspended for six months, with some exemptions for areas including telecoms, software and pension payments.

The US has long opposed the court, particularly its claim to jurisdiction over people from non-member countries accused of atrocities on the territory of member states.