The Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, which brings together survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs and fights against nuclear weapons, received the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize this Friday, as announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. This is what is happening to imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, who will be rewarded in 2023 for her fight for women’s rights.
The Oslo-based committee recognized “his efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and to demonstrate through testimony that nuclear weapons should never be used again.”
Next year will mark 80 years since two US atomic bombs killed some 120,000 residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they recall. “In response to the atomic bomb attacks of August 1945, a global movement emerged whose members worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. Gradually, a powerful international norm developed stigmatizing the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. This rule is known as the “nuclear taboo.” “The testimony of the hibakusha – the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is unique in this broader context,” the ad says.
In the view of the Norwegian Committee, these witnesses helped “generate and consolidate” widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world. They also recognize what they call “an encouraging fact.” “No nuclear weapons have been used in war for almost 80 years. The extraordinary efforts of Nihon Hidankyo and other hibakusha representatives contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo. “It is therefore worrying that today this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is being put under pressure.”
The nuclear powers, continues the Norwegian Committee, “are modernizing and improving their arsenals; new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons; and there are threats of the use of nuclear weapons in ongoing wars. “At this moment in human history, it is appropriate to remember what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever known. »
This year, there were 286 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, including 197 individuals and 89 organizations, according to the Nobel Committee, which, as is tradition, did not reveal their names. This year, marked by the Israeli massacre in Gaza, the United Nations Middle East Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) led the selection for the prize. Both organizations featured prominently in expert predictions as well as betting houses.
The Peace Prize is the only one of the six Nobel Prizes awarded and presented outside of Sweden, in Oslo, at the express request of its creator, the magnate Alfred Nobel. His will stipulated that it would be granted to the person “who has worked more or better for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the celebration and promotion of peace congresses.” This decision is made by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, an independent body composed of five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
In more than 120 years of history, the Nobel Peace Prize has rewarded 27 organizations and 111 individuals. Among them, 19 were women.
