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Journalism of Courage
The Japanese atomic bomb survivor organisation, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of its efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. The Norwegian Nobel Committee called it a “grassroot movement by Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors.”
Also known as Hibakusha – the Japanese word for people who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 – the anti-nuclear weapon organisation “is receiving the 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,” said the official release.
Nihon Hidankyo was formed on August 10, 1956, amid the 2nd World Conference against A and H Bombs (atomic and Hydrogen bombs).
The World Conference began in 1955 in response to the growing criticism against nuclear bombs after the US conducted a hydrogen bomb test on March 1, 1954, according to Hidankyo’s official website.
The Nobel Committee observed that the testimonies by the Hibushka have helped educate people across the globe about the “incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons.”
In 1975, Hidankyo’s co-chairperson Yukimune Hajime, as a member of the people’s delegation to the United Nations, petitioned to conclude an international treaty for a total ban on nuclear weapons, the press release said, adding that this later led to investigation and research on the real situation of the Hibakusha and the damage and sufferings caused by the nuclear bombing.
It also sent delegations to the five nuclear weapon states in 1985 to petition their governments for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
This is not the first time that the organisation has been nominated. In 2005, during his Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony speech, Professor Ole Danbolt Mjos, chairperson of the Norwegian Nobel Committee made an exceptional reference to, and saluted the Hibakusha and their organisation, Nihon Hidankyo.
In 2010, Nihon Hidankyo received the Peace Summit Award for Social Activism at the 11th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.
As per the International Peace Bureau, there were about 300,000 Hibakusha living in Japan, as of March 1999. Several thousand Hibakusha are also living in Korea and other parts of the world. Hidankyo is cooperating with those organisations in their work for the defence of the living and rights of these people, the Bureau said.
