A-bomb survivors’ group earns Nobel
OSLO—The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons.
Members of the group also known as Hibakusha—witnesses to the only two nuclear bombs ever to be used in conflict—have dedicated their lives to the struggle for a nuclear-free world.
“Hibakusha is receiving the Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation.
Without naming specific countries, Joergen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, warned that nuclear nations should not contemplate using nuclear weapons.
“Today’s nuclear weapons have far greater destructive power. They can kill millions and would impact the climate catastrophically,” he told a press conference. “A nuclear war could destroy our civilization.”
Frydnes praised “the extraordinary efforts” of NihonHidankyo and other representatives of the Hibakusha to contribute to “the establishment of the nuclear taboo.”
“It is therefore alarming that today this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure,” he said.
Backdrop of conflicts
The Nobel Peace Prize is being awarded against a backdrop of devastating conflicts, notably in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.
In the Middle East, persistently spiraling levels of violence over the past year have killed tens of thousands of people, including thousands of children and women. The war, sparked by a bloody raid into Israel by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023 that left about 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, has spilled out into the wider region.
Amid such conflicts, the Norwegian Nobel Committee could opt not to award a prize. The last time that happened was in 1972.
But next year will mark the 80th anniversary of the dropping of nuclear bombs by the United States on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The committee has regularly put focus on the issue of nuclear weapons, most recently with its 2017 award to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, cochair of Nihon Hidankyo, said in response to the award that it “will be a great force to appeal to the world that the abolition of nuclear weapons and everlasting peace can be achieved.”
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who was in Laos attending a regional summit, said: “It’s extremely meaningful that the organization that has worked toward abolishing nuclear weapons received the Nobel Peace Prize.”
The Peace Prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or about $1 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
The Nobel season ends Monday with the announcement of the winner of the economics prize, formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
