George and Amal Clooney hail Navi Pillay’s ‘timely’ Nobel Peace Prize win

George and Amal Clooney on Friday (October 9) hosted the annual Albie Awards in London, celebrating the event's honourees, as well as this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay.

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney said she was "thrilled" that Pillay, a former ICC judge who has been a judge on several international courts, including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, had won the award.

"She's Judge Pillay to me. I've of course been familiar with her work for many, many years since she was a judge on the Rwanda tribunal," she told Reuters. "I think that at a time when international law is under such assault, it's fantastic to see her work to promote international law being honoured at the highest possible level."

In its fifth year, the Albie Awards is named after former South African constitutional judge and anti-apartheid activist Albie Sachs and honours individuals and organisations "who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of justice, often at great personal risk".

Amal and George Clooney said their Clooney Foundation for Justice now operates in 40 countries and reaches more than 30,000 women and children who are victims of violence with free legal support

"We've got over 100 journalists out of jail, and we were feeling like we're moving in the right direction," filmmaker and actor George Clooney said.

"I think we live at a time when more people are understanding how much value there needs to be placed on the rule of law, because we can see it being lost in many places," added Amal Clooney.

This year's Albie Awards honourees included Kyrgyz journalists Bolot Temirov and Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, Congolese human rights organisation Justice Plus, American photojournalist Lynsey Addario, Malawian girls' rights advocate and shelter founder Vanessa Mwangala and Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith.

Smith said the Clooney Foundation was a trailblazer in both using technology to protect human rights and thinking about how to protect people as technology advances, and that AI was also a big part of discussions. 

"I think this is a time when there's heightened interest, quite rightly, about ensuring that we advance AI safety. The power of AI has moved quickly. I think we are at a point where the safety for AI needs to catch up," he said.

Friday's ceremony at London's Natural History Museum was a star-studded affair, with actors Emma Thompson, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton and Josh Hartnett, model Emily Ratajkowski, fashion designer Donatella Versace, Vogue's Anna Wintour and musician Nile Rodgers among the guests.

"George gets very annoying if you say 'no' to him," Edgerton joked.

Camera: Vitalii Yalahuzian, Production: Hanna Rantala/Reuters