Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors wins Nobel Peace Prize
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OSLO – Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors, was on Oct 11 awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons”.
Nihon Hidankyo has for decades represented hundreds of thousands of survivors of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
These survivors, known as the hibakusha, are living memorials to the horror of the attacks and have used their testimony to raise awareness of the human consequences of nuclear warfare.
The Nobel – one of the world’s most prestigious honours – recognises the group at a time when survivors of the attacks, which killed an estimated 200,000 people, are mostly in their 80s and are dying by the hundreds each month.
It also comes as the world confronts increasing worries about Russia’s veiled threats
“The hibakusha help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” Mr Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said during his announcement on Oct 11.
Mr Frydnes added that “extraordinary efforts” by survivors of the US nuclear attack in Japan, including those who are part of Nihon Hidankyo, “have contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo”.
That, he said, had led to a world in which no weapons of that type had been used in war in 80 years.
He added that it was alarming to see that taboo fading in recent years.
Mr Frydnes said the committee, in honouring Nihon Hidankyo, wished “to honour all survivors who, despite physical suffering and painful memories, have chosen to use their painful experience to cultivate hope”.
‘It won’t end there’
“I can’t believe it’s real,” Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Toshiyuki Mimaki said at a news conference in Hiroshima, site of the Aug 6, 1945, atomic bombing during the closing stages of World War II, as he held back tears and pinched his cheek.
“It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace,” he added.
But “if Russia uses them against Ukraine, Israel against Gaza, it won’t end there”, he warned. “Politicians should know these things.”
The remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall in Hiroshima after the US atomic bombings. The building is now known as the Atomic Bomb Dome.
PHOTO: AFP
A memorial service in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima on Aug 6, 2020.
PHOTO: AFP
Mr Mimaki, a survivor himself, said the award would give a major boost to his group’s efforts to demonstrate that the abolition of nuclear weapons was possible.
“(The win) will be a great force to appeal to the world that the abolition of nuclear weapons and everlasting peace can be achieved,” he said. “Nuclear weapons should absolutely be abolished.”
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons congratulated Nihon Hidankyo and described the hibakusha as “inspirational survivors” who “have worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the catastrophic impacts of nuclear weapons and push for their total elimination”.
The campaign, an international coalition of non-governmental organisations, itself received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Peace Prize is arguably the most distinguished of the Nobel prizes, and its recipients have often been celebrated global figures, such as Mr Nelson Mandela, Ms Malala Yousafzai, Mr Barack Obama and 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.
The 2023 prize was awarded to Ms Narges Mohammadi,
The prize, first awarded in 1901, has also been given to 30 organisations, including twice to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and three times to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The World Food Programme, a UN agency, received the award in 2020.
In 2024, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which administers the prize, registered 286 candidates, including 197 individuals and 89 organisations. NYTIMES, REUTERS
