Oslo, October 11:
For their "extraordinary efforts" to "achieve a world free of nuclear weapons," the Japanese group Nihon Hidankyo—a group of atomic bomb survivors—has been bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
On Friday, at a ceremony in Oslo, the group that "contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo" was honored with the prize. Throughout its history, the organization has worked to end the use of nuclear weapons.
"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 Chair Joergen Watne Frydnes said of the 1956 group, explaining why they were awarded the Prize.
Efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again have earned the Nobel Peace Prize for the grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, according to the Nobel Committee. There is now a nuclear prohibition in large part due to the heroic actions of Nihon Hidankyo and other Hibakusha representatives.
It claimed that for a long time, nobody cared about what happened to the people who survived the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japanese victims of nuclear testing in the Pacific and local Hibakusha groups came together in 1956 to establish the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. Nihon Hidankyo is the Japanese abbreviation for this name. It was destined to grow into Japan's preeminent Hibakusha group.
According to the Nobel committee, it will be 80 years since the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States killed over 120,000 people. In the subsequent months and years, a similar amount of people succumbed to radiation and burn injuries.
In presenting this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed its desire to pay tribute to all Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors who, despite facing physical pain and painful memories, have opted to channel their costly experience into fostering hope and activism 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," according to it.
This year's peace prize had 286 deserving candidates—197 persons and 89 organizations—nominated by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
In Alfred Nobel's will, the Norwegian parliament is to appoint a five-person committee to decide on the award.
One who has "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses" will receive the Peace Prize, as stipulated in the will of the Swedish inventor.
The scientist's last will specifies that, unlike previous prizes, this one shall be presented in Oslo and not Stockholm.
In 2023, the award was bestowed upon Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who had been working against the subjugation of women in her home country.
Between 1901 and 2024, a total of 142 people (111 individuals and 31 organizations) were honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, marking 105 awards in total.
There have been a total of 28 separate organizations to receive the Nobel Peace Prize since its inception; these include the International Committee of the Red Cross three times (1917, 1944, and 1963), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees twice (1954 and 1981), and a total of 28 other organizations.
As a peace activist, Alfred Nobel shown a deep concern for social justice. His views on peace were shaped by his friendship with Bertha von Suttner, a prominent figure in the European international peace movement and a subsequent recipient of the peace prize. Nobel named peace as the fifth and last area for a Nobel Peace Prize in his will.
