The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the Japanese association for the victims of the atomic bomb “Nihon Hidankyo”, the Nobel committee announced on Friday. Created in 1956, it campaigned for the recognition of a status for the victims of the atomic bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and continues its actions denouncing the development of nuclear weapons.
Nihon Hidankyo “receives the peace prize for his efforts for a world without nuclear weapons and for having demonstrated, through testimonies, that nuclear weapons must never be used again”, declared the president of the Norwegian Nobel committee ;gien, Jørgen Watne Frydnes.
Nihon Hidankyo’s action allowed the entry into force in 1956 of a law providing access to free medical care for victims of the atomic bombs, called “hibakusha” (“people affected by the bomb”).
The “hibakusha” have for decades forcefully carried out their call to ban nuclear weapons. There were still around 136,700 in 2020. Many were newborns or still in their mother’s womb on the mornings of August 6 and 9, 1945.
By awarding this prize, the Nobel committee warned against a weakening of the taboo on the use of nuclear weapons. “No nuclear weapon has been used in war for almost 80 years,” noted the president of the Nobel committee. “It is therefore alarming that today this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is coming under pressure.”
Discourses surrounding the war in Ukraine have recently awakened concerns about a weakening of this taboo, in particular with the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin to review his doctrine on the use of the supreme weapon.
“This year’s prize is one that emphasizes the need to maintain the nuclear taboo. And we all have a responsibility (to do so), especially the nuclear powers,” added the chairman of the Nobel committee.
“I never imagined that this could happen,” declared Toshiyuki Mimaki with tears in his eyes, surprised to see his movement rewarded for having sought to demonstrate, through the testimonies of survivors, that nuclear weapons should never again be used. used.
“I want the abolition of nuclear weapons”, “it has been said that, thanks to nuclear weapons, peace would be maintained throughout the world. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists”, he argued during a press conference. “And for example, if Russia uses them against Ukraine, and Israel against Gaza, it will not stop there. Political leaders must be aware of this.”
And to draw parallels on the harmful consequences of conflicts, today as yesterday: the situation in Gaza is “like Japan 80 years ago”, devastated by bombs at the end of the Second World War, he said. he said, referring to the “bleeding children” of the Palestinian territory.
Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, imprisoned in her country, for her fight against the compulsory veil for women and against the death penalty.
