Japanese Organisation Nihon Hidankyo Wins 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize 2024 has been awarded to the Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo of survivors of the World War II atomic bombings.

“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 Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a statement.

Witnesses to the only two nuclear bombs ever to be used in conflict have dedicated their lives to the struggle for a nuclear-free world.

“The Hibakusha help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” the committee said.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has regularly put focus on the issue of nuclear weapons, most recently with its award to the ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, who won the award in 2017.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute said 286 candidates were registered to be considered for this year’s prize, of which 197 were individuals and 89 were organizations.

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or about $1 million, is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards, opens new tab in his 1895 will.

Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”.

(With inputs from agencies)