Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Japanese Movement Against Nuclear Weapons

The Nobel Peace Prize in 2024 has been awarded to the Japanese organisation of nuclear bombing victims Nihon Hidankyo. This was announced by the Nobel Committee.

‘This mass movement of survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, receives the Peace Prize for its efforts to create a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating that nuclear weapons can never be used again,’ the committee said.

The global movement emerged in August 1945 in response to the atomic bomb attacks. Its members have worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

‘Gradually, a powerful international norm emerged that stigmatised the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. This norm was called the ‘nuclear taboo’.

The testimonies of the Hibakusha, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are unique,’ the Nobel Foundation said.

Witnesses to the bombing have helped to create and consolidate broad opposition to nuclear weapons around the world, drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experiences, and issuing warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons.

‘Hibakusha help us to describe the unspeakable, to think about the unthinkable, and to somehow understand the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,’ the committee explains.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee draws attention to the fact that no nuclear weapons have been used in any war in almost 80 years. This is called an ‘encouraging fact’. However, they emphasise that today the taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure, and this is ‘a cause for concern’.

‘Nuclear-armed states are modernising and improving their arsenals; new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons; and there are threats to use nuclear weapons in ongoing wars.

At this moment in human history, it is worth reminding ourselves what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen,’ the Nobel Foundation said.

Next year marks the 80th anniversary of the explosion of two US atomic bombs that killed approximately 120,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A significant number of people also died from burns and radiation injuries in the months and years that followed.

Modern nuclear weapons are much more destructive. They can kill millions of people and have a catastrophic impact on the climate. A nuclear war could destroy our civilisation, the committee emphasises.

‘At the heart of Alfred Nobel's vision was the belief that dedicated people can make a difference. In awarding this year's Nihon Hidankyo Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour all survivors who, despite physical suffering and painful memories, have chosen to use their costly experiences to foster hope and engagement in peace,’ the organisers of the prize say.

As The Gaze previously reported, this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to two Americans, David Baker and John Jumper, and a Briton, Demis Hassabis, for solving the mystery of protein structure.