All about Nihon Hidankyo group, Nobel Peace Prize winner for efforts to achieve world free of nuclear weapons

Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (Oct 11), for their ‘efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons’.

The organisation includes survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States and was recognised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for its efforts.

What is Nihon Hidankyo?

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The ‘Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations,’ shortened as Nihon Hidankyo was a group formed by hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) in 1956 with the aim of pressuring the Japanese government to improve the support of victims and lobbying governments for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

They were previously nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, 1994, and 2015.

Nobel Committee Chair Joergen Watne Frydnes told news agency Reutersthat the group was because,"In a world ridden (with) conflicts, where nuclear weapons is definitely part of it, we wanted to highlight the importance of strengthening the nuclear taboo, the international norm, against the use of nuclear weapons."

Nobel Committee 'wish to honour all survivors'

Frydnes alsosaid the Nobel committee "wishes to honor all survivors who, despite physical suffering and painful memories, have chosen to use their costly experience to cultivate hope and engagement for peace."

Prize for Nihon Hidankyo

Each prize awarded is worth 11 million Swedish krona (about $1.1m), and winners will be given a diploma and gold medal on December 10, on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

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The Nobel Committee has previouslyhonoured the efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons.

In 2017, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the Peace Prize and in 1995, Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won for “their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.”

Peace Prize amid escalating conflicts in world

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday amid the increased tensions in West Asia and Ukraine.

Toshiyuki Mimaki, co-head of Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo stressed that the situation for children in Gaza is similar to the situation in Japan at the end of World War 2.

Mimaki added, “In Gaza, children in blood are being held. It’s like in Japan 80 years ago."

The co-founder further said that the group's win of this year's Nobel Peace Prize would boost its efforts to demonstrate that the abolition of nuclear weapons was possible.

“It would be a great force to appeal to the world that the abolition of nuclear weapons can be achieved,” said Mimaki during a news conference in Hiroshima.

(With inputs from agencies)