This year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Council of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo).
On the 11th (local time), the Nobel Committee announced that Hidankyo, a civic group for atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, was selected as the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
According to Japan's NHK report, Hidankyo is a nationwide organization of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, established in 1956. Since its founding, Hidankyo has advocated for the abolition of nuclear weapons from the perspective of the survivors and has demanded support for the victims over the past 68 years.
In particular, Hidankyo has consistently engaged in activities such as holding atomic bomb photo exhibitions at the United Nations (UN) and around the world. Before the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it collected 3 million signatures, and after the treaty's enforcement, it separately submitted 13.7 million signatures urging all countries to participate in the treaty.
As a result of these efforts, at the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Nobel Committee honored Hidankyo for its "long-standing commitment to nuclear disarmament."
Meanwhile, this is the first time in 50 years that Japan has won the Nobel Peace Prize since former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. Prime Minister Sato received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 for declaring Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles and signing the NPT.
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