Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2024 for its efforts to achieve a world free from nuclear weapons.
The organization is a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as hibakusha, that seeks to “achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and demonstrate this through witness testimony.” “Strives that nuclear weapons should never be used again”.
In announcing this year’s Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for creating hope for peace through “their costly experience.” “They help us describe the indescribable, think the unimaginable, and somehow understand the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” the committee said on X.
The committee also highlighted that no nuclear weapons have been used in warfare in nearly 80 years. While acknowledging Nihon Hidankyo’s efforts toward establishing a nuclear prohibition, the Nobel Committee also acknowledged that it is under pressure.
A press release from the Nobel Committee said that by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience and issuing urgent warnings against the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons, the organization has helped strengthen opposition to nuclear weapons. Have helped.
“Nuclear powers are modernizing and upgrading their arsenals, new countries are preparing to acquire nuclear weapons, and threats to use nuclear weapons in an ongoing war are being made. At this time in human history, it itself It is worth reminding what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen,” a press release said.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, while the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambrose and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation.
South Korean author Han Kang was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature “for her deeply poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
American John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work in the development of artificial intelligence. Shortly after the award was announced, Hinton raised concerns about the technology he had created.
The award comes with a gold medal, a diploma and prize money of $1 million (913,000 euros).
