Frydnes said the award was made as the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure”.
Nihon Hidankyo was receiving the 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,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation.
Efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons have been honored in the past by the Nobel Committee. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the Peace Prize in 2017, and Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won in 1995 for “their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms”.
This year’s prize was awarded against a backdrop of devastating conflicts raging in the world, notably in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Sudan.
Alfred Nobel stated in his will that the prize should be awarded for “the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.
Last year’s prize went to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for her advocacy of women’s rights and democracy and against the death penalty. The Nobel committee said it also was a recognition of “the hundreds of thousands of people” who demonstrated against “Iran’s theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women”.
In a year of conflict, there had been some speculation before the announcement that the Nobel committee would opt not to award a prize at all.
The Nobel prizes carry a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million). Unlike the other Nobel prizes that are selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decreed the Peace Prize be decided and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The Nobel season ends Monday with the announcement of the winner of the Economics Prize, formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.