Nihon Hidankyo, an atomic bomb survivors group based in Hiroshima and Nagasaki prefectures in Japan, was on Friday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2024.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the group was awarded “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 extraordinary efforts of Nihon Hidankyo and other representatives of the hibakusha have contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo,” said Joergen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
“It is therefore alarming that today this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure,” Frydnes noted.
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, killing between 150,000 and 246,000 people.
Nihon Hidankyo was founded in 1956 with main goals including “the prevention of nuclear war and the abolition of nuclear weapons, including the signing of an international treaty for their total prohibition and elimination.”
In addition, Hidankyo members advocate for government payouts for all atomic bombing victims and improvements in Tokyo’s current policies toward the victims.
The organization has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times since 1985.
About prize and candidates
The Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901. There were years when no winner was announced, the last time being in 1972.
Other reasons for no award being given include World Wars I and II, disagreements among committee members, and a “lack of worthy candidates.”
The full list of nominees is traditionally kept strictly confidential and can only be made public 50 years after the award ceremony.
Each year, however, information about the nomination of certain candidates is leaked to the media by organizations or individuals on the nomination committee.
These include former and current members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and its advisers, previous year’s Peace Prize winners, members of national parliaments, university professors specializing in history, philosophy, law or theology.
According to leaked media reports a total of 286 candidates had been nominated for this year’s peace prize.
The agency named Pope Francis and British naturalist David Attenborough among them, as well as UNRWA, the UN International Court of Justice and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
