Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors, has won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
Known as hibakusha, the survivors of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been recognised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Nobel Committee Chair Joergen Watne Frydnes said the group had “contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo”.
Frydnes warned the “nuclear taboo” was now “under pressure” – and praised the group’s use of witness testimony to ensure nuclear weapons must never be used again.
Founded in 1956, the organisation sends survivors around the world to share their testimonies of the “atrocious damage” and suffering caused by the use of nuclear weapons, according to its website.
Their work began almost a decade after the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On August 6, 1945, a US bomber dropped the uranium bomb above the city of Hiroshima, killing around 140 000 people.
Three days later a second nuclear weapon was dropped on Nagasaki. Japan’s surrender, announced by Emperor Hirohito shortly afterwards, ended World War Two.
Speaking to reporters in Japan, a tearful Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-head of the group, said: “Never did I dream this could happen,” the AFP news agency quotes him as saying.
Mimaki criticised the idea that nuclear weapons bring peace. “It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists,” Mimaki said, according to reports by AFP.
In a BBC interview last year, he said despite only being three years old at the time the nuclear bomb hit Hiroshima – he could still remember dazed and burnt survivors fleeing past his home.
The prize – which consist of a diploma, a gold medal and a sum of $1m (£765 800) – will be presented at a ceremonies in Oslo in December, marking the anniversary of the death of the scientist and prize creator Alfred Nobel.
The group has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize “many times” in the past, including in 2005 when it received a special mention by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, its website says. (BBC)
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