Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Group of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Survivors Amid Nuclear Tensions
Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group representing survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are this year’s recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. “We didn’t expect this big prize. The dream came true,” said Masako Wada, a representative of the organization, in an interview after today’s (Oct. 11) announcement.
The grassroots movement was recognized for its efforts to use witness testimony to demonstrate the need for a nuclear-free world. The atomic bomb survivors, who are known as the ‘hibakusha,’ 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 and use of nuclear weapons,” said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, while announcing the Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Unlike the other awards established by the 1895 will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, the peace prize is awarded annually by a Norwegian committee instead of a Swedish one.
Why was Nihon Hidankyo chosen?
Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings, which remain the only instance of nuclear weapon use in war. The bombs killed an estimated 120,000 people in Japan, with a comparable number of inhabitants dying from burn and radiation injuries afterwards.
The group’s recognition comes during a time when the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure,” said Frydnes. Without naming specific countries, he noted that nuclear powers are “modernizing and upgrading their arsenals new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons; and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons in ongoing warfare.” The 2024 Nobel should remind the world of the sheer destruction nuclear arms can bring, he added.
Earlier this year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit created to spur public debate on nuclear disarmament following the 1945 atomic bomb attacks, announced that its Doomsday Clock—a symbol of the world’s proximity to global catastrophe—would remain at 90 seconds until midnight, the closest it has ever been. This decision was largely influenced by an expansion of nuclear arsenal around the globe, said the organization at the time.
“Please abolish nuclear weapons while we are alive,” said Tomoyuki Mimaki, president of Nihon Hidankyo, in a press conference following the Nobel Peace Prize announcement. “That is the wish of 114,000 hibakusha.”
This year’s decision fulfills “Nobel’s desire to recognize efforts of the greatest benefit to humankind,” said Frydnes, adding that Nihon Hidankyo joins a list of Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to “champions of nuclear disarmament and arms control.” Alva Myrdal, a Swedish politician, and Alfonso Garcia Robles, a Mexican diplomat, received the award in 1982 for their disarmament advocacy. And in 1995, British physician Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs were chosen as the winners for their efforts to end the influence of nuclear arms in international politics.
This isn’t the first time a Nobel Prize has been given to an organization instead of an individual. Nearly 30 groups, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have received the esteemed award over history.
The last remaining Nobel Prize of 2024, the award for economic sciences, will be announced on Oct. 14.
Here’s a look at this year’s winners so far:
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun
- Nobel Prize in Physics: John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry: David Baker, Demis Hassabis, John Jumper
- Nobel Prize in Literature: Han Kang