Guterres Congratulates Nihon Hidankyo on Nobel Prize for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons – World Issues
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 11 (IPS) – United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has congratulated the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo for being awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
“Atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as hibakusha, are selfless, comforting witnesses to the terrible human cost of nuclear weapons,” he said in a statement.
“Although their numbers grow slowly every year, the tireless work and tenacity of the hibakusha are the backbone of the global movement to eliminate nuclear weapons.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2024 Peace Prize “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and to demonstrate with evidence that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”
The committee said the international movement came about because of the atomic bombings in August 1945.
“The testimony of the Hibakusha—survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—is unique in this larger context. These historical witnesses have helped generate and mobilize widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their experiences, and issuing urgent warnings. against the spread and use of nuclear weapons.
It designated Nihon Hidankyo, who reportedly cried foul following the announcement, along with other Hibakusha representatives as instrumental in establishing the “nuclear taboo.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee acknowledged one encouraging fact: “No nuclear weapon has been used in war in nearly 80 years.”
The award comes as the world prepares to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the dropping of two US atomic bombs that killed an estimated 120,000 civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A similar number died from burns and radiation injuries in the months and years that followed.
“Today’s nuclear weapons have enormous destructive power. They can kill millions and can affect the climate in a dangerous way. A nuclear war can destroy our civilization,” the committee said.
“The fates of those who survived the infernos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hidden for a long time and ignored. In 1956, local organizations of Hibakusha and victims of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific formed the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. This Name was shortened in Japanese it is Nihon Hidankyo.
The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize fulfills Alfred Nobel’s desire to recognize efforts of great benefit to humanity.
Guterres said “he will never forget my many meetings with them over the years. Their amazing living testimony reminds the world that the nuclear threat is not confined to history books. Nuclear weapons remain a clear and present danger to humanity, and they also appear in the daily discourse of international relations.”
He said the only way to end the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them completely.
IPS UN Bureau Report
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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