On November 11, 2024, it was announced that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 would be awarded to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) “for its efforts to realize a world without nuclear weapons and for its testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2024

A powerful international norm stigmatising nuclear weapons

 The grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, is receiving the Nobel 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 extraordinary efforts of Nihon Hidankyo and other representatives of the Hibakusha have contributed greatly to the establishment of a nuclear taboo.

   The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 to Nihon Hidankyo “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”

Nihon Hidankyo

The Nobel Peace Prize 2024

Founded: 1956

Residence at the time of the award: Tokyo, Japan

   Prize motivation: “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” Prize share: 1/1

   For demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.

  The two American atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 killed approximately 120 000 people. A comparable number died later of burn and radiation injuries. It is estimated that 650 000 people survived the attacks. These survivors are known as Hibakusha in Japanese.

 The fate of the survivors was long concealed and ignored. In 1956, local Hibakusha associations along with victims of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific formed The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations, shortened in Japanese to Nihon Hidankyo. This grassroots movement soon became the largest and most widely representative Hibakusha organisation in Japan.

  Nihon Hidankyo has two main objectives. The first is to promote the social and economic rights of all Hibakusha, including those living outside Japan. The second is to ensure that no one ever again is subjected to the catastrophe that befell the Hibakusha.

  Through personal witness statements, Nihon Hidankyo has carried out extensive educational work on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. Hence the motto “No more Hibakusha”.