2024 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Japanese atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo

The Nobel Peace Prize was on Friday awarded to the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grass roots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha.

The group, founded in 1956, received the honour “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”, said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

The committee expressed alarm that the international “nuclear taboo” that developed in response to the atomic bomb attacks of August 1945 was “under pressure”.

“This year’s prize is a prize that focuses on the necessity of upholding this nuclear taboo. And we have all a responsibility, particularly the nuclear powers,” Frydnes told reporters.

“Today’s nuclear weapons have far greater destructive power. They can kill millions and would impact the climate catastrophically. A nuclear war could destroy our civilisation.”

Nihon Hidankyo’s Hiroshima branch chairperson, Tomoyuki Mimaki, the co-head of the group, was standing by at the city hall for Friday’s announcement.

He cheered and teared up when he received the news. “Is it really true? Unbelievable!” he screamed.