President Donald Trump has reacted angrily to missing out on the Nobel Peace Prize, disparaging the winner and describing the decision as an “indelible stain” on Norway.
Speaking at a rally in Syracuse, New York, Friday evening, Trump described this year’s winner of the prestigious prize, leading jurist and former U.N. human rights chief Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, as a “mystery person” he had never heard of, and said: “We will not forget, Norway, that you didn’t give this prize.”
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, who chairs the Norwegian Nobel Committee that awards the prizes, said in an interview Saturday that the committee was independent of the Norwegian government and its only mandate is to honor the criteria set out in the will of Alfred Nobel.
He declined to directly comment on Trump’s speech, but said: “The point of this prize is it goes to a person who with courage and integrity has led the way towards a more comprehensive global legal order, and that is the direction our societies and the world should go into if we want a more peaceful society.”
In his tirade against the Nobel Peace Prize result, that lasted around 10 minutes, Trump said he “should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t. … This is an indelible stain on the country of Norway and those people that made such an disgraceful and embarrassing decision.”
Trump has long sought the award, regularly stating that he deserves the prize. He has also previously pushed Norwegian leaders for it, calling the country’s finance minister and texting the prime minister about it.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is independent from the Norwegian government, although its members are appointed by the parliament and reflect the composition of the legislature.
Several countries and individuals have sought Trump’s favor by nominating him for the peace prize, or publicly stating he should win the award. Last year’s Nobel peace laureate, Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado gave Trump her medal in January, weeks after he toppled her country’s longtime leader, Nicolás Maduro.
At the time, the Nobel Committee said it would not comment on what laureates do after they win, but the award “cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others.”
In a late night Truth Social post, Trump, who is waging war against Iran, also said he “should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes” because he “settled 8 Wars” and was “about to settle, or win, two more, Iran and, Russia/Ukraine.”
In reality, some of the eight conflicts Trump claims to have settled have continued. Others were ended largely by others.
Trump also disparaged Pillay in his post, saying: “I don’t know what the woman has done.”
The Norwegian Nobel committee said it had awarded the prize of Pillay “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” and her “courage, vision and determination” in holding states and world leaders accountable.
Pillay’s work has included heading an international tribunal investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, defending anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, serving as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and leading a U.N. commission last year that determined Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, something Israel rejects.
She is currently a judge at the International Court of Justice in a case where the military-run government of Myanmar stands accused of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority population.
On hearing news of her win on Friday, Pillay responded to applause with the quip, “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.”
Pillay dedicated her award to war crimes survivors and said she was surprised the committee had praised her courage, because “why would you need courage to speak the truth?”
She also criticized threats to the ICC as “attempts to weaken international criminal justice.”
Hours after she was awarded the prize, the Trump administration imposed aggressive sanctions on the International Criminal Court, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the move was aimed at ending the threat the “rogue court” posed to U.S. sovereignty.
Haakon Gjerløw, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, an independent research institution, said the U.S. sanctions against the ICC announced on the same day Pillay was awarded the prize “underscores exactly why this award matters.”
“The Nobel Committee has sent a clear message that international law and the institutions that defend it remain essential pillars of a peaceful world” he said. “It is a brave decision by the Committee, and a worryingly bullying reaction.”
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