Ex-U.N. rights chief Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize for pushing legal order

OSLO - South African-born former U.N. human rights commissioner Navanethem Pillay won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Friday while issuing a stark warning against attacks on institutions contributing to the global legal order.

Pillay, who has devoted her life to bringing justice to the vulnerable including war victims and defended anti-apartheid activists as a lawyer, has been at the "forefront in the development of an international legal order," the committee said. The 85-year-old also served as a judge at the International Criminal Court, whose members now face U.S. sanctions.