82-year-old Japanese nuclear survivor Kido Suechi of “Nihon Hidankyo” (Japanese confederation of A and H bomb victims’ organizations) speaks during the 2022 Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons at the Austrian Center in Vienna, Austria on June 20, 2022.
Joe Klamar Afp | Getty Images
Japan’s atomic bomb survivors’ organization Nihon Hidankyo won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of the organization’s efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the grassroots movement, founded in 1956 in response to the atomic bomb attacks in August 1945, had “worked tirelessly” to raise awareness of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons.
“Gradually, a strong international norm developed, stigmatizing the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. This norm has become known as the ‘nuclear taboo’. The testimony of the Hibakusha – who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is unique in this larger context. ,” he added.
The committee said that while advocating that no nuclear weapons have been used in war for nearly 80 years, “it is alarming that today this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it had not yet been able to contact Nihon Hidankyo, but “hopes to do so soon.”
The committee has previously worked on the issue of nuclear weapons, awarding the prize of peace to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in 2017.
The Nobel Prize presentation will be held in Oslo, Norway on December 10, the date that marks the anniversary of the death of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.
Nobel Prize winners typically receive 11 million Swedish kroner ($1.06 million), although many laureates share that amount.
The Norwegian Nobel Institute is pictured in Oslo, Norway on September 25, 2024.
Jonathan Nackstrand Afp | Getty Images
Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 for his “fight against the oppression of women in Iran and his struggle to promote human rights and freedom for all,” the award organizers said at the time.
Mohammadi, who is best known as the deputy director and spokesperson of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, was reportedly sentenced to an additional year in prison in June for her activism.
The Iranian government did not acknowledge the additional sentence at the time, according to The Associated Press.
The Defenders of Human Rights Center is an organization that supports human rights and advocates for free and fair elections and due process. It was co-founded by Shirin Ebadi, the only other Iranian to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
