Nobel Peace Prize 2024 goes to Japanese anti-nuclear weapons movement

The Japanese movement of atomic bombing survivors Nihon Hidankyo has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize. This has just been announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo. She receives the prize for her efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.

After the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, a global movement emerged whose members have worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the catastrophic consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. The testimony of the Hibakusha – survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is unique in this respect.

In almost 80 years since the attacks on Japan, no nuclear weapon has been used in war. Nihon Hidankyo and other representatives of the Hibakusha had made a significant contribution to establishing the nuclear taboo. "It is therefore alarming that this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure today," writes the Norwegian committee.

286 nominees

A total of 286 candidates were nominated this year, including 197 individuals and 89 organizations. Compared to previous years, the field of candidates has therefore shrunk considerably.

Last year, the award went to women's rights activist Mohammadi, who has been in prison in her native Iran for some time. She was honored "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight for the promotion of human rights and freedom for all".

Since the first prize was awarded in 1901, 111 individuals and 28 different organizations have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, the UN refugee agency UNHCR twice and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) even three times.

As a rule, the Peace Prize is awarded to one person or organization alone, but sometimes it is shared by two laureates. The award has only been shared between three recipients three times, including when the then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the then leading Israeli politicians Shimon Peres and Izchak Rabin received the award 30 years ago for their efforts to find a solution to the – Middle East conflict, which is currently escalating again –.

Further award winners

This week, this year's Nobel Prize winners in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry and literature have already been announced. The final award in economics will follow on Monday. All of these Nobel Prizes are traditionally awarded in Stockholm, with the Nobel Peace Prize being the only one to be awarded in Oslo.

The awards are presented at a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of the death of dynamite inventor and prize donor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). They are endowed with prize money of eleven million Swedish kronor (just under 970,000 euros) per category.

(anw)