Nobel Peace Prize for Japanese atomic bomb survivor group

The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization representing Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors, for its efforts to promote a nuclear-free world.

In Short

• Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo wins Nobel Peace Prize 2024
• Organisation represents Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bomb survivors
• Organisation has been recognised for efforts against nuclear weapons

The Nobel Peace Prize 2024 has been awarded to the Japanese atomic bomb survivor organisation Nihon Hidankyo. Nihon Hidankyo represents atomic bomb survivors (Hibakusha) from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With member groups across all 47 Japanese prefectures, it unites nearly all organised Hibakusha. Both its leaders and members are survivors themselves.

On its official X page, the Nobel Committee announced that the organisation received the peace prize 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”.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to the Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo. This grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, is receiving the peace prize 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,” the Nobel Committee said on its official X page.

It added, “In awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour all atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who, despite physical suffering and painful memories, have chosen to use their costly experience to cultivate hope and engagement for peace”.

The Nobel Committee said that the Japanese organisation helps to “describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons”.