Call For Nuclear-Free World Wins Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

New Delhi: The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organisation, for advocating a nuclear-free world.

Nihon is the leading organisation of atomic bomb survivors in Japan. It advocates for the rights and welfare of atomic bomb victims, known as Hibakusha. The Norwegian Nobel Committee took cognizance of Nihon Hidankyo’s powerful testimony on the horrors of nuclear war.

Nihon Hidankyo was founded in 1956 to raise awareness about the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons. Its members share their personal stories of devastation and survival.  “The Hibakusha help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable,” the Committee said in its announcement.

Their stories have been crucial in creating “nuclear taboo” that stigmatises the use of nuclear arms. The organisation kept working to create and sustain global opposition to nuclear weapons. 

Nearly 80 years after the nuclear bombs were dropped on the two Japanese cities, the world is still precariously close to similar catastrophic events due to the ongoing war involving many countries across the globe. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to an organisation that reminds of the horrors and sufferings of living with the effects of nuclear holocaust is a timely reminder of why nations must avoid reaching such a point.