TThe 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo for its work “to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a statement on Friday.
The organization is made up of Hibakusha, also known as survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US that killed about 120,000 people in August 1945. ) Nihon Hidankyo was chosen to receive the award, in part, because of the role evidence their personal role in “shaming the use of nuclear weapons” as unacceptable.
“Hibakusha help us to explain the unexplainable, imagine the unimaginable, and somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes said during Friday’s announcement.
Nihon Hidankyo is the only national organization of atomic bomb survivors. Since its founding in 1956, the organization has been fighting for the banning of nuclear weapons, the prevention of nuclear war, and a Japanese law that would provide compensation to Hibakusha survivors and families. It also regularly sends Hibakusha to the UN and other nations to describe what it was like to survive an atomic bomb attack.
Despite a global campaign to reduce nuclear weapons, approximately 13,000 nuclear weapons belonging to nine countries—the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea—remain. No nuclear weapon has been used in war in nearly 80 years, but some countries, such as Russia, are expanding their nuclear arsenals.
“The incredible efforts of Nihon Hidankyo and other Hibakusha representatives contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo. It is therefore shocking that today this non-compliance with the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure,” said the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, who is the chairman of Nihon Hidankyo, said that this award will help the organization in its struggle to eliminate nuclear weapons. “It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists,” Mimaki told the media.
The Japanese organization was selected from 286 proposals submitted this year—89 of which were organizations. Proposals were submitted on Jan. 31. Information about other nominees for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize will not be announced until 50 years later.
Other people and organizations in the same field of work as Nihon Hidankyo, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, have also taken home the Nobel Peace Prize in previous years.
Last year, an imprisoned Iranian human rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against the oppression of women in Iran.
Winners are awarded a medal, a diploma, and 11 million Swedish kroner, the equivalent of just over $1 million. The award ceremony will take place in Oslo on December 10.
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