The Japanese group Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of Atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons, has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
In making the announcement in Oslo on October 11, Norwegian Nobel Committee chief Joergen Watne Frydnes said it was "alarming" that "new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons, and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons as part of ongoing warfare."
SEE ALSO: Russian, Iranian Presidents Meet As War Rages In Middle East“It is very clear that threats of using nuclear weapons are putting pressure on the important international norm: the taboo of using nuclear weapons,” Frydnes said when asked at a news conference if rhetoric from Moscow surrounding nuclear weapons and its invasion of Ukraine had played a part in the committee's decision.
Frydnes did not mention any specific countries, but his comments come at a time when countries such as Iran have raised fears of nuclear proliferation. Tehran says it is developing its nuclear capabilities for civilian purposes, but its foes say it is looking to produce atomic weapons.
In addition, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has further heightened concerns about the risk of nuclear war given Moscow's announcement that it plans to review its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons and its deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus -- the first relocation of such warheads outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
"The committee is drawing attention to a very dangerous situation in the world, with relations between China and the U.S., and between Russia and the U.S., the most toxic since the end of the Cold War," said Dan Smith of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which noted that at the start of 2024, the nine nuclear-armed states possessed an estimated 12,121 atomic weapons.
"If there is a military conflict, there is a risk of it escalating to nuclear weapons," Smith added.
The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize isn't the first time an anti-nuclear group has been recognized.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Before it, Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, which works to reduce the role nuclear arms play in international politics, won in 1995.
The prize also comes as conflict ravages the Middle East, with fears focused on Iran. More than three dozen Iranian hard-line lawmakers on October 10 demanded the government revise its nuclear doctrine to pursue atomic weapons.
In a letter to the Supreme National Security Council, they said Western powers could not control Israel, thus making nuclear weapons "Iran's option to create deterrence."
Nihon Hidankyo was chosen from among 286 nominees -- 89 of which were organizations.
Last year, the prize, which comes with an 11 million Swedish krona (just over $1 million) award, went to imprisoned Iranian women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi.