Dr Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and eminent international jurist, will receive the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize for a lifetime of advocating for accountability and responsibility in the face of crimes against humanity.
Judge Pillay was officially announced as this year’s recipient at Sydney Town Hall this morning.
Federation President Henry Rajendra was an invited guest at the announcement ceremony hosted by Sydney Peace Foundation Patron, Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore.
This year, Federation will continue its partnership with the Sydney Peace Foundation which began last year, culminating in Sydney Peace Week and most notably, the annual celebration of diversity and shared humanity at Cabramatta High School.
Cabramatta High School Principal Lachlan Erskine was also one of the distinguished guests at the ceremony this morning alongside other supporters of human rights.
Later this year, Judge Pillay will travel to Australia to accept the prize at a special ceremony at Town Hall.
Melanie Morrison, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, and friend of Federation, said: “With international law and the rules-based order under threat, this year we acknowledge a beacon of integrity in global justice. Judge Navi Pillay has spent decades holding the most powerful to account and giving voice to the victims of atrocities — from apartheid South Africa and the Rwandan genocide, to ongoing human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Myanmar.”