Nobel Peace Prize rewards fight against nuclear weapons –

Copenhagen, Oct 11 (EFE).- The Nobel Peace Prize recognized this Friday the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyoformed by survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasakifor his fight against nuclear weapons.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee highlighted in its ruling the efforts of this organization created in 1956, eleven years after the bombings carried out by the United States. “to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and to demonstrate through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”.

The story of the «hibakusha»as is known the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasakiis “unique” and his activism has contributed to generating and consolidating opposition to these weapons based on his own experiences, creating educational campaigns and warning against their proliferation and use, the ruling highlights.

“Hibakusha help us describe the indescribable, think the unthinkable, and somehow understand the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons.”noted the Nobel Committee.

Their work has also contributed to creating the “nuclear taboo”, which has allowed this type of weapon to not be used in a war again in almost 80 years, after two American atomic bombs killed, directly or indirectly, almost a quarter of a million people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

«Maintaining a strong international taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is decisive»the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said at a press conference, Jørgen Watne Frydneswho described the pressure against this veto as “alarming” and recalled that modern atomic bombs can kill millions and destroy current civilization.

The Nobel Committee denounced that nuclear powers have modernized and updated their arsenals, that new countries are preparing to acquire nuclear weapons and that there have been threats to use them in current war conflicts.

Nihon Hidankyo becomes the 31st organization awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in more than a century of history, in which the Committee has recognized the antinuclear fight several times.

This happened, for example, in 1982, with the Swedish Alva Myrdal and the Mexican diplomat Alfonso García Robles, in 2005 with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or in 2017 with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

The election of Nihon Hidankyo was received with surprise in Norway, because although his candidacy sounded strongly more than a decade ago, he did not appear in the pools of favorites this year, among which the United Nations Refugee Agency was mentioned. of Palestine in the Middle East (UNRWA) and to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

unexpected prize

Norwegian politicians and organizations linked to peace nevertheless agreed to highlight the justice of the award.

«The award is a reminder of why we must continue working for disarmament and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. And it is a necessary warning against direct threats of using the atomic bomb.dijo el prime ministro noruego, Jonas Gahr Støre.

ICAN – through its deputy director, Daniel Högsta – highlighted, in a message to EFE, that the award comes “at a key moment in which the risk of using nuclear weapons is very high, perhaps greater than ever.”

“I think that by receiving this great award, our words will be able to carry more weight,” Toshiyuki Mimaki, representative of Nihon Hidankyo, said in an appearance in Japan.

Mimaki, who was 3 years old when the atomic bombs were dropped, expressed his desire and that of the 114,000 “hibakusha” still alive for nuclear weapons to “end” “while we are alive.”

Oslo

Nihon Hidankyo succeeds in the list of winners of this Iranian-style award Narges Mohammadidistinguished last year for her fight against the oppression of women in her country.

The Peace Prize is the only one of the six Nobel Prizes that is awarded outside of Sweden, in Oslo, at the express wish of the creator of the awards, the Swedish magnate Alfred Nobel, since at the time Norway was part of the Kingdom of Sweden. EFE