The Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace has praised the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) for receiving the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, highlighting the group’s sustained efforts to advocate for a nuclear-free world.
The council noted that Nihon Hidankyo’s decades-long campaign has spotlighted the “inhumanity of nuclear weapons,” and stands as a powerful testament against their future use.
With the upcoming 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings in 2025, the Nobel Peace Prize award to Nihon Hidankyo underscores the urgency of the organization’s mission, according to the Council.
Founded in 1956, Nihon Hidankyo has represented atomic bomb survivors, known as hibakusha, who have dedicated themselves to conveying the devastating impact of nuclear weapons through public testimonies and lectures, both in Japan and internationally.
The Council expressed its “heartfelt respect to all those at Nihon Hidankyo who have continued to work to this day, and congratulate them on receiving the award,” adding that their advocacy has been instrumental in “revealing the inhumanity of nuclear weapons in the international community.”
Nihon Hidankyo traces its origins to the aftermath of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru incident in 1954, in which a Japanese tuna fishing boat was exposed to radiation from an American hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll.
The incident spurred anti-nuclear sentiment across Japan, leading to the formation of a nationwide network of atomic bomb survivors, unified under the Nihon Hidankyo organization.
The Nobel Committee recognized Nihon Hidankyo’s role in fostering the global “nuclear taboo,” acknowledging that the hibakusha’s testimonies have “made a great contribution to the establishment of the nuclear taboo.”
The council echoed this sentiment, stating that the survivors’ efforts have “been the greatest force preventing the use of nuclear weapons in war since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki until today.”
The announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize on October 11 coincided with the commemoration day of Pope John XXIII, who actively sought peace during the Cold War and issued his landmark encyclical Pacem in Terris.
In this document, Pope John XXIII urged the world to end the arms race and work toward the “prohibition of nuclear weapons, and finally the achievement of total abolition with effective supervision.” The Japan Catholic Council referenced these principles, recalling the Pope’s insistence that “true peace can only be built on mutual trust.”
The council also emphasized the growing relevance of Nihon Hidankyo’s mission in light of recent global conflicts. “In the world today, with the escalation of bombings in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip in Palestine, and neighboring countries, repeated threats of the use of nuclear weapons by conflicting parties make the use of nuclear weapons more real,” the council said.
The council called on the world to “face up to this reality, learn from it, and overcome the crisis of the imminent use of nuclear weapons.”
Within the Catholic Church, both Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis have visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, issuing urgent appeals for peace and nuclear disarmament.
The Council voiced its determination to walk alongside atomic bomb survivors “towards a nuclear-free world,” expressing hope that the Nobel Peace Prize will prompt Japan and other nuclear-armed nations to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
