No peace without accountability: Sydney Peace Laureate Navi Pillay

Donald Trump may have declared the war on Gaza over, but a welcome-but-shaky ceasefire and lasting peace are not the same thing.
On this episode of After America, Judge Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and 2025 Sydney Peace Prize Laureate, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss accountability in international law and the prerequisites for genuine peace.
This discussion was recorded on Monday 13 October 2025.
Details of Judge Navi Pillay’s Australian events are available on the Sydney Peace Foundation website.
Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us by Richard Denniss is available now via Australia Institute Press.
Guest: Navi Pillay, Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis
Show notes:
Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds, Office of the High Commissioner, United Nations Human Rights (September 2025)
Summary of ICJ’s Order of 24 May 2024, United Nations (May 2024)
2025 Peace Prize Citation: Navi Pillay, Sydney Peace Foundation (2025)
Beyond the Two-State Solution: Policy responses to the Destruction of Palestine and the Insecurity of Israel, the Australia Institute (February 2025)
Photo: The White House/Flickr (U.S. Government work)
Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions
We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to podcasts@australiainstitute.org.au.
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