In these times of war in which the atomic threat once again flies over the globe, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded this Friday in Oslo the Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2024 to Nihon Hidankyo, the only national organization of the so-called hibakushathe survivors of the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The award has been given to him “for his efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons should never be used again,” said the president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes. . The recognition follows in the wake of 2017, when the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons was awarded from Oslo.
Nihon Hidankyo is a grassroots movement founded in 1956 that brings together different organizations from the 47 Japanese prefectures and represents almost all hibakusha organized. All its officials and members are victims of the atomic bomb. The recognition comes at a time when, almost eighty years after the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his memory begins to fade. The number of survivors living in Japan in 2016 was 174,080, according to the most up-to-date figure on the organization’s website. They were almost double in 1999.
Its members, among other things, are dedicated to telling their stories, to make people aware of their experiences, the real damage and the aftermath of the atomic bombing, both inside and outside Japan. Those affected are sent to the UN, nuclear weapon states and other countries and regions around the world. Upon learning of the award this Friday, its director, Toshiyuki Mimaki, told Reuters that this award should serve as a reminder that atomic weapons “must be abolished.”
Among its objectives are “the prevention of nuclear war and the elimination of nuclear weapons” and the search for state compensation for the damage caused by the atomic bomb. “State responsibility for launching the war, which led to the damage from the atomic bombing, must be recognized and state compensation must be provided,” its website reads.
285 candidates
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) were two of the big favorites. Both organizations featured prominently in the forecasts of the Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in Oslo and the Norwegian Peace Council, as well as in other pools. Among the candidates was also the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres.
In total, the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize had 285 candidates, of which 196 were individuals and 89 were organizations, according to the Nobel Committee, which last year awarded the Iranian Narges Mohammadi for her fight for women’s rights. . The Peace Prize is the only one of the six prizes that is awarded and presented outside of Sweden, in Oslo, at the express wish of Alfred Nobel, since in his time Norway was part of the neighboring country.