Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Japanese atomic bomb survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyon
They were given the accolade for demonstrating ‘through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again’.
The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo for its efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
The group, comprising survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, was recognised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for demonstrating “through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”.
The year 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of the bombings.
The Nobel committee said that the testimony of the Hibakusha – the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is unique.
“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 and use of nuclear weapons,” said the committee.
It added: “The Hibakusha help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons.”
In 2023, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in the country and for promoting human rights and freedom for all.
On Monday, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.
Scientists John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton on Tuesday won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on machine learning that paved the way for the current boom in Artificial Intelligence technologies.
A day later, scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John M Jumper were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on protein structure prediction.
The Nobel Prize in Literature was on Thursday awarded to South Korean novelist Han Kang “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”.
The Nobel Prize for Economics will be announced on October 14.
