UNITED NATIONS, Oct 11 (IPS) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres congratulated Japanese grassroots group Nihon Hidankyo on winning the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
“The atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, are selfless and soulful witnesses to the terrible human cost of nuclear weapons,” he said in a statement.
“The number of hibakusha is decreasing every year, but their continued efforts and resilience are the backbone of the global nuclear disarmament movement.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2024 Peace Prize for “efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through testimony that nuclear weapons should never be used again.”
The committee said a global movement arose in response to the atomic bomb attacks in August 1945.
“As a survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hibakusha’s testimony is unique in this larger context. These historical witnesses have helped generate and strengthen widespread opposition to nuclear weapons worldwide by creating educational campaigns based on personal stories. Hibakusha helps us describe the indescribable, think about the unthinkable, and somehow understand the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons.”
He pointed out Nippon Hidankyo, who shed tears after the announcement, and representatives of hibakusha who contributed greatly to establishing the ‘nuclear taboo’.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee acknowledged one encouraging fact: “Nuclear weapons have not been used in war for almost 80 years.”
The award comes as the world prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the day two American atomic bombs killed about 120,000 residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the months and years that followed, similar numbers died from burn and radiation injuries.
“Today’s nuclear weapons have a much greater destructive power. They could kill millions of people and have disastrous effects on the climate. Nuclear war could destroy our civilization,” the committee said.
“The fate of those who survived the hellfire of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has long been covered up and neglected. In 1956, local hibakusha associations, together with victims of Pacific nuclear weapons tests, formed the Japan Atomic Bomb Victims’ Organization Federation, which took on the name Nihon in Japanese. Abbreviated as Hidankyo, it would become the largest and most influential Hibakusha organization in Japan.”
The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize fulfills Alfred Nobel’s desire to recognize efforts of the greatest benefit to humanity.
“I will never forget my many meetings with them over the years,” Guterres said. Their haunting living testimony reminds the world that nuclear threats are not confined to history books. Routine rhetoric in international relations.”
He said the only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them completely.
IPS UN Secretariat Report
© Interpress Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Interpress Service
