Feature story
Terumi Tanaka, survivor of U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki when he was only 13 years old and co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, delivered the Nobel Lecture on behalf of the historic grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors. In accepting the award, Tanaka said, “It is the heartfelt desire of the hibakusha that, rather than depending on the theory of nuclear deterrence, which assumes the possession and use of nuclear weapons, we must not allow the possession of a single nuclear weapon.”
Nihon Hidankyo received the Nobel Peace Prize for the hibakusha’s tireless “efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”
The Nobel Committee, upon awarding the prize, said: “We all have a duty to fulfil the mission of the hibakusha. Their moral compass is our inheritance. It is now our turn. Disarmament efforts require insistent public appeals and sustained pressure.”
Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), lauded the speech. “Listening to Mr Tanaka describe the horrendous effects on his family and city when the Americans dropped their atomic bomb should convince world leaders they have to go beyond simply congratulating the hibakusha of Nihon Hidankyo for this award,” she said. “They must honour them by doing what the hibakusha have long called for – urgently getting rid of nuclear weapons.”
She went on to say that, as long as any nuclear weapons remain anywhere, they are bound one day to be used, whether by design or accident. “Joining the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons provides the pathway to the elimination of nuclear weapons and a safer world for all of us,” she said.
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Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, Oslo, 10 December 2024, Photo: ICAN
The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomed the Nobel Peace Prize award to Nihon Hidankyo. The WCC and its member churches have spoken out against nuclear weapons since their founding assembly in 1948, when the WCC described the prospect of war with nuclear weapons as a “sin against God and a degradation of man.” The WCC has continued to call for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons since that time, through its governing bodies, functional commissions, and member churches.
Peter Prove, WCC director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, reiterated that the WCC will continue to support all efforts to rid this world of the threat of nuclear weapons.
“We congratulate Nihon Hidankyo, and will continue to support the efforts of our churches around the world as they call upon all governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and provide nuclear justice and environmental remediation to the people and lands where nuclear weapons testing was carried out,” said Prove. “There is no security in these weapons, only permanent insecurity so long as they continue to exist”
"WCC welcomes Nobel Peace Prize award to Nihon Hidankyo" (WCC news release, 11 October 2024)
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
"The Nobel Peace Prize 2024: The big surprise" (WCC blog post, 25 October 2024)
Learn more about the WCC work on arms control and disarmament
WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
