Japanese atomic bomb survivors group, Nihon Hidankyo wins Nobel Peace Prize

Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its activism against nuclear weapons.

Jorgen Watne Frydnes chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the award was made as the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapon under pressure”

The winner was announced at  the Norwegian Nobel Institute in a ceremony in Oslo on Friday, where  Frydnes said the group had “contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo”.

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The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the group’s use of witness testimony to ensure nuclear weapons must never be used again.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it wanted to “honour all atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who, despite physical suffering and painful memories, have chosen to use their costly experience to cultivate hope and engagement for peace”.

“They help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” the committee said.

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The Norwegian Nobel Institute said 286 candidates had been nominated for this year’s peace prize, a number comprising 197 individuals and 89 organisations.

Nuclear powers are modernising and upgrading their arsenals, new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons in ongoing warfare. “At this moment in human history, it is worth reminding ourselves what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen.”

Narges Mohammadi, a jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous struggle against the oppression of women in Iran and relentless fight for social reform.

The peace prize is the only Nobel awarded in the Norwegian capital – the others are announced in Stockholm.
The prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish krona ($1.1m) from a bequest left by the award’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. Alongside the cash prize, the winners will be presented with a medal on December 10.