Japan's Hibakusha Group Receives Nobel Peace Prize
Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, received the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize at an award ceremony in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on Tuesday.
The Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma were presented to three hibakusha atomic bomb survivors, including Terumi Tanaka, 92, co-chair of the group.
Nihon Hidankyo became the second Japanese recipient of the Peace Prize after the late Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1974. The latest milestone is expected to add momentum to efforts to abolish nuclear weapons.
The ceremony was held at Oslo City Hall and attended by a delegation from Nihon Hidankyo, including children and grandchildren of hibakusha.
Tanaka delivered a speech at the ceremony, describing how he was exposed to radiation from the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945. He also outlined Nihon Hidankyo's 68-year journey toward nuclear abolition.
"It is the heartfelt desire of the hibakusha that, rather than depending on the theory of nuclear deterrence, which assumes the possession and use of nuclear weapons, we must not allow the possession of a single nuclear weapon," he said.
"Please try to imagine: there are 4,000 nuclear warheads ready to be launched immediately. This means that damage hundreds or thousands of times greater than that which happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki could happen right away," Tanaka warned. "Any one of you could become either a victim or a perpetrator at any time."
In the latter part of his speech, Tanaka touched on the aging of hibakusha, saying, "From now on, I hope that the next generation will find ways to build on our efforts and develop the movement even further."
"Let not humanity destroy itself with nuclear weapons! Let us work together for a human society, in a world free of nuclear weapons and of wars!" he concluded.
Prior to Tanaka's speech, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said in a speech that Nihon Hidankyo members "have worked in different ways to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons."
The Japanese group's role in establishing the "nuclear taboo," or an international norm that the use of nuclear weapons is morally unacceptable, is "unique," Frydnes added.
In October, the Norwegian Nobel Committee named Nihon Hidankyo the winner of the 2024 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 committee noted that the hibakusha group's grassroots movement led to the development of the nuclear taboo. It added that this taboo is now "under pressure" due to nuclear threats in ongoing wars.
Established in 1956, Nihon Hidankyo has sent hibakusha to U.N. and other international conferences on nuclear disarmament to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
When the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which worked with Nihon Hidankyo to promote the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, won the 2017 Peace Prize, two Nihon Hidankyo members, including Tanaka, were invited to the award ceremony.
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