The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons.

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the prize was awarded while “the taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure.”

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a change in his country’s nuclear doctrine, aiming to discourage the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons. This appears to significantly lower the threshold for possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

Watne Frydnes said the Nobel committee “wishes to honor all survivors who, despite their physical suffering and painful memories, chose to use their costly experience to cultivate hope and commitment to peace.”

The president of Hidankyo’s Hiroshima branch, Tomoyuki Mimaki, who stood at city hall for the announcement, clapped and cried when he heard the news.

“Is this really true?” Amazing!” Mimaki shouted.

Efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons have already been honored by the Nobel committee. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the Peace Prize in 2017, and in 1995 Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs were recognized for “their efforts to diminish the role by nuclear weapons in international politics and, in the longer term, to eliminate these weapons.

This year’s prize was awarded against a backdrop of devastating conflicts raging in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.

“It is very clear that threats to use nuclear weapons put pressure on an important international norm, the taboo on the use of nuclear weapons,” Watne Frydnes said in response to a question about whether whether Russia’s rhetoric around nuclear weapons during its invasion of Ukraine influenced this year’s decision.

“It is therefore alarming to see how threats of use also undermine this standard. It is crucial for all of humanity to maintain a strong international taboo against this use,” he added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X that “the specter of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still hangs over humanity. This makes Nihon Hidankyo’s plea invaluable. This Nobel Peace Prize sends a powerful message. We have a duty to remember. And an even greater duty to protect future generations from the horrors of nuclear war. »

Alfred Nobel stated in his will that the Peace Prize should be awarded for “the most important or best work in favor of brotherhood among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and the promotion of peace congresses”.

Last year’s prize went to imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for her advocacy for women’s rights and democracy, as well as against the death penalty. The Nobel committee said it was also in recognition of the “hundreds of thousands of people” who demonstrated against “the Iranian theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”

During a year of conflict, speculation swirled that the Norwegian Nobel Committee, responsible for choosing the winner, would choose not to award a prize at all. The award has been refused 19 times since 1901, including during both world wars. The last time it was not awarded was in 1972.

In the Middle East, soaring violence over the past year has killed tens of thousands of people, including women and children. The war, sparked by a bloody raid in Israel by Hamas-led militants on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, has spread across the region.

Last week, Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah militants who were firing rockets at Israel, while Iran – which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah – fired ballistic missiles at Israel. Israel has yet to respond, but its defense minister vowed this week that its retaliation would be both devastating and surprising.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally but says more than half are women and children. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed, thousands more injured and around a million displaced since mid-September, when the Israeli army significantly expanded its offensive against Hezbollah.

The war in Ukraine, sparked by the Russian invasion, is heading into its third winter with enormous loss of life on both sides.

The UN has confirmed more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilian deaths, but this does not take into account the 25,000 Ukrainians believed to have been killed during the Russian capture of the city of Mariupol or unreported deaths in the occupied regions.

The Nobel Prizes carry a cash prize of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1 million). Unlike the other prizes selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decreed that the Peace Prize would be decided and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The Nobel Prize season ends Monday with the announcement of the winner of the economics prize, officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, and Becatoros from Athens, Greece. Marie Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Lori Hinnant in Paris and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland contributed.