Human rights expert Philippe Sands wins German Peace Prize

The 2026 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, a prestigious award that honors individuals who contribute to the realization of peace through their work, goes to French-British lawyer and author Philippe Sands, the prize's board of trustees announced on Thursday.

"In his literary work, which is distinguished both by narrative brilliance and historical depth, Philippe Sands devotes as much attention to the motives of the perpetrators as to the suffering and lives of the victims," the jury noted in its statement . "At the heart of his legal work is a commitment to the universal rights of every human being, evidenced in his advocacy for victims of war crimes, racism, torture and colonial injustice."

More than a chronicler of crimes and violations of international law, Sands is also a prominent figure in the campaign advocating for the recognition of ecocide as an international crime.

A family history leading to a life devoted to justice

Born on 17 October 1960 in London, Sands completed his law studies at the University of Cambridge in 1983. He soon established himself as a highly sought-after expert in international law.

As the descendant of Holocaust survivors, he has drawn on his own family history to trace the emergence of the body of law that led to the legal concepts of genocide and crimes against humanity.

His 2016 historical memoir, "East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity," examines the lives of the two Jewish lawyers who established these concepts in the aftermath of World War II. It has been translated into more than 30 languages.

In more than two dozen cases to date, Sands has appeared as counsel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

He has represented at the ICJ the Solomon Islands in proceedings concerning the threat and use of nuclear weapons; Georgia in its dispute with Russia over the South Ossetia conflict; and Croatia in its genocide claim against Serbia.

During the 2024 ICJ public hearings regarding the legal consequences of Israel's policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, he argued for Palestinian statehood and the inherent right to self-determination.

He is currently acting for The Gambia, in its ICJ case against Myanmar, which is charged of having committed genocide against the Rohingya Muslims.

Bestselling non-fiction books inspired by landmark cases

Sands was closely involved in the historic 1998 arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. In a landmark legal case, he argued against Pinochet's immunity. The case's ruling, which fundamentally reshaped international law, established that former heads of state do not have absolute immunity for international crimes.

In Sands' 2025 non-fiction work, "38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia," he revisits the ties between Pinochet and Nazi commander Walther Rauff, who helped create the Chilean internal security apparatus during the military dictatorship, and the attempted extraditions of the two men.

Sands also drew from another of one his cases in his book "The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain’s Colonial Legacy," published in 2022, which looks into how at the end of the 1960s — amid unprecedented changes seeking to end the impact of colonialism — the inhabitants of an island of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean were forced to leave their homeland to create a new colony, the "British Indian Ocean Territory." The Government of Mauritius is still fighting to gain control over the Chagos Archipelago.

Sands was also a leading figure among the legal scholars who, in the early 2020s, developed the concept of ecocide. Drawing on the principles of international criminal law, they argued that serious, large-scale environmental destruction should be recognized as an international crime in its own right and be prosecuted accordingly.

He has since been campaigning for the recognition of ecocide as a crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, in order to make it the fifth core international crime alongside the four established ones: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Peace Prize winners include Salman Rushdie

The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade carries a prize of €25,000 ($28,382), and is traditionally presented at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair, held this year from October 7 to 11.

The German Publishers and Booksellers Association — the professional organization representing the trade — has been awarding the prize since 1950.

Last year, the accolade went to historian Karl Schlögel, and it was awarded to Anne Applebaum in 2024.

Notable past winners include Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Svetlana Alexievich and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Edited by: Sarah Hucal