Japanese NGO Nihon Hidankyo to Receive Nobel Peace Prize

The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to the Japanese non-governmental organization, Nihon Hidankyo, for its 68-years of education and advocacy.  The Nobel Peace Prize Committee recognized 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 is the  Japanese Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.  https://www.ne.jp/asahi/hidankyo/nihon/english/

The formal ceremony will be held on Tuesday, December 10th, at the Oslo City Hall in Norway beginning at 13:00 Central European Time, or 5 am Mountain Standard Time in New Mexico.  It will be broadcasted on YouTube.  https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/laureates/2024

Eleven years after the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hidankyo was founded by Hibakusha, “the bomb-affected people,” on August 10, 1956, during the Second World Conference Against A- and H- bombs.  The World Conference had formed in 1955 in response to the mounting public outrage against the A- and H- bombs following the largest U.S. hydrogen bomb test, called Castle Bravo, on March 1, 1954 over the Marshall Island Atolls.  https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2024-02-29/castle-bravo-70-worst-nuclear-test-us-history

After the Castle Bravo test, the U.S. prohibited the Hibakusha from writing or speaking about the bombings.  The Hibakusha were deprived of their health by the radiation exposures from the bombs and suffered serious discrimination.

Nihon Hidankyo persisted and sent delegations of Hibakusha to international conferences and events to provide testimonies about the damage and human sufferings caused by the use of nuclear weapons.  A core principle of their work is to ensure no more Hibakusha would be created anywhere in the world.  They call for a nuclear weapons-free world.

In 1957, the Japanese Council Against A- and H- bombs organized a visit for Hidankyo to the former Soviet Union, China and Mongolia.  Hidankyo sent its own delegations on speaking tours to the U.K., France, Germany, Austria, India and Sri Lanka.

Fast forward to 1975 when Hidankyo petitioned the United Nations (UN) to conclude an international treaty for a total ban on nuclear weapons.  In support, Hidankyo submitted “A Report to the UN Secretary General:  The Damage and Aftereffects from the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki” and asked for the UN to hold an international sumposium in Japan.  The request was not granted but in 1978 the First UN Special Session on Disarmament was held in New York followed by other Special Sessions on Disarmament.  https://www.ne.jp/asahi/hidankyo/nihon/english/about/about2-01.html

In summary, Nihon Hidankyo have been an instrumental force to prevent the use of nuclear weapons and the creation of new Hibakusha.

1. Friday, December 6^th at noon at the intersection of West Alameda and Sandoval for the weekly one-hour peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament. Join the weekly peaceful protest with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, New Mexico Peace Fest, Pax Christi and others. Bring your flags, signs and banners!

2. JUST RELEASED ON YOU TUBE: “Tom Clements of Savannah River Site Watch: Profiteering from Planning for Nuclear War,” presented on Nov. 19^th in Columbia, SC, to Carolina Peace Resource Center (CPRC) gathering.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1APooraLgzo

Tom Clements of Savannah River Site Watch: Profiteering from Planning for Nuclear War

3. Friday, December 6, 2024 at 1 pm MT on zoom – Hanford Watch’s Scholar Series – with Jim Werner about Long-term Stewardship of Nuclear Materials & Other Contaminated Sites. register here Even if you can’t make it, register for a link to the recording.

Jim Werner has worked for more than 40 years as a field environmental engineer; a policy analyst; in leadership positions for state and federal agencies, and an environmental NGO (NRDC); as a consultant for states, DOE, and EPA; and on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS).

As Director of the Strategic Planning and Analysis Office for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, Jim led efforts to publish Linking Legacies, Closing the Circle on the Splitting of the Atom and From Cleanup to Stewardship, as well as the Baseline Environmental Management Report and Plutonium: The First Fifty Years. At CRS, Jim was awarded a fellowship at the Library of Congress Kluge Center to study long-term stewardship issues.

4. Saturday, December 7^th and Sunday, December 8^th – The Second Atomic Age Cinema Fest in Hollywood at the Crescent Theater, co-presented by the “Kat Kramer’s Films That Changed the World” and the “International Uranium Film Festival.” The Second Atomic Age Cinema is the final destination of the 2024 International Uranium Film Festival tour across North America that began in March 2024 in Window Rock at the Navajo Nation Museum.  For more information:  https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/atomic-age-cinema-fest-in-hollywood-2025

Tags: 2024 Japanese Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization, Castle Bravo, hibakusha, Hiroshima, Japanese Council Against A- and H-bombs, March 1 1954, Marshall Island Atolls, Nagasaki, Nihon Hidankyo, Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. hydrogen bomb test, UN, United Nations, “A Report to the UN Secretary General: The Damage and Aftereffects from the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1975), “the bomb-affected people, ” First UN Special Session on Disarmament, ” Second World Confererence Against A- and H-bombs