Updated October 11, 2024 at 06:36 AM ET
A Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group made up of survivors of the atomic bombings in Japan during World War II has won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
In awarding this year’s prize to Nihon Hidankyo, the Nobel Committee said it is sending a message to those countries threatening the long-held taboo against the use of nuclear weapons.
Nobel Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said Nihon Hidankyo, made up of survivors of the August 1945 nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nakasaki, had been instrumental in the global movement that has kept nuclear weapons from being used in conflict for 80 years.
“These historical witnesses have helped to generate and consolidate widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience and issuing urgent warnings against the spread of nuclear weapons,” he said.
Frydnes said thanks to their work, nuclear weapons have been stigmatized as morally unacceptable. But he added that the long-held nuclear taboo is now under pressure.
“The nuclear powers are modernizing and upgrading their arsenals,” he said. “New countries appear to be preparing to acquire weapons, and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons as part of ongoing warfare.”
The Nobel Committee’s award seemed to be a message for Iran, who some believe is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, to North Korea, a nuclear power thought to be trying to expand their arsenal, as well as to Russia, which has lowered the threshold for when it would launch a nuclear attack.
The award was announced at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Norway’s capital Oslo.
Last year’s winner was Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned Iranian human rights activist and journalist, “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”
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