Japanese Nobel Peace Prize Winners Saluted by UN SecGen

October 20, 2024 – United Nations (UN) Secretary, General Antonio Guterres on Friday congratulated a leading organisation of Japanese atomic bomb survivors on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, calling them the “backbone of the global nuclear disarmament movement.”

Mr. Guterres said in a statement that the United Nations “proudly stands with the hibakusha,” using the Japanese term for atomic-bomb survivors, calling them an “inspiration” for the world’s efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.

The U.N. chief said that the testimonies from survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a reminder that the danger of nuclear weapons “is not confined to the history books” with the threat of their use “once again appearing in the daily rhetoric of international relations,” he said.

“The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them altogether,” the Secretary General added, while Deputy U.N. Secretary General for disarmament, Izumi Nakamitsu, told a press conference in New York that the work of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations was “absolutely significant” in shifting global public opinion on nuclear disarmament.

“Just imagine you go through atomic bombings…probably you would not want to remember,” said Nakamitsu, who is from Japan. Yet the survivors “decided to share their catastrophic experiences to the world public” in order to push for the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons, she said.

In a statement on granting the award to Nihon Hidankyo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee warned that the taboo against using nuclear weapons was under pressure. According to Nakamitsu, upholding the taboo is one of the top priorities of the United Nations, given the current global security environment.

“The risks of miscalculation (or) misunderstanding leading to a potential use of nuclear weapons is unacceptably high at the moment,” Nakamitsu said. She expressed her hope that the Japanese government would consider participating in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as an observer.

Joining the treaty has been a demand of many Japanese atomic bomb survivors. But the Japanese government, which relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella, has pushed back against the idea, citing its security alliance with Washington.