The Nobel peace committee said Friday it was not taking a stance on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, after it honoured South African judge Navi Pillay who headed a UN commission that said the claims were valid.
"It's her report, the Commission's report, and of course we have great faith in her professionalism, in her integrity, but that work is of a UN inquiry commission," Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told AFP when asked to comment.
He said it was up to international courts to rule on the issue, stressing that the Nobel Committee "is not the court".
Pillay headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which does not speak on behalf of the world body, and which last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza.
Israel rejected the report's findings as "distorted and false".
When announcing the prize, Frydnes highlighted that Pillay had chaired the commission, but made no mention of either Gaza or Israel.
He did point out her work on International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and that she is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice in a case where Myanmar stands accused of genocide.
"This year's laureate has been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted," Frydnes told a press conference.
