On Nihon Hidankyo's Nobel Peace Prize - Peace Boat Statement

We are truly overjoyed by the news that Nihon Hidankyo (the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and extend our deep and heartfelt congratulations.

Peace Boat has worked together with the Hibakusha for many years to call for the abolition of nuclear has weapons. Our Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World: Peace Boat Hibakusha Project has since 2008 brought over 170 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to travel by ship, together delivering the Hibakusha’s message for nuclear weapons abolition to people around the world through testimony sessions. We have witnessed time and time again how the lives and testimonies of the Hibakusha move people around the globe as well as the young people they travel with onboard Peace Boat, giving them great courage and turning these thoughts into action.

As a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, we have also worked together with the Hibakusha to promote the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The presence of the Hibakusha has been constant at all important meetings leading to the TPNW. It is the survivors who have taught us that steady grassroots efforts, if continued without giving up, will certainly come to fruition in the form of international law, changing international norms.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee also cited Nihon Hidankyo’s contribution to maintaining the “nuclear taboo” by providing a vast number of witness accounts, issuing resolutions and public appeals, thus inspiring and educating people around the world. At a time when the threat of the use of nuclear weapons is higher than ever, as in the Middle East and Ukraine, now is the time for the world to once again sincerely listen to the voices of the Hibakusha.

No matter how difficult the situation surrounding nuclear weapons is, the Hibakusha have continued to convey the message to the world that nuclear weapons are an absolute evil, while recalling their own painful memories and struggling with severe physical conditions. It is this this message that we must firmly carry on. Hiroshima and Nagasaki must never be repeated, anywhere in the world.

However, it is not only the use of nuclear weapons that must not be repeated. Mr Tanaka Terumi, Co-Chair of Nihon Hidankyo who travelled onboard Peace Boat earlier this year, speaks often of both the reality of the atomic bombings and of how Japan was pushing forward with war. If we reflect on the aggression by Japan toward countries in the Asia-Pacific in the lead up to and during World War II, it would be unacceptable for Japan to once again expand its military and fall back into militarism. We have learned from many Hibakusha of Nihon Hidankyo the importance of Japan’s Peace Constitution, especially its war-renouncing Article 9. The essential point is to hold high and act upon the principle of building peace through trust and international cooperation, without relying on military force.

In Japan, the experience of war and the atomic bombings is rapidly becoming a distant memory. At the same time, an increasing number of politicians speak of strengthening nuclear deterrence and nuclear sharing. The awarding of the Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo is an opportunity to remind ourselves that Japan is the only country to have suffered the wartime use of nuclear weapons, and that it has a heavy moral responsibility to lead the world towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Japan must sign and ratify the TPNW as soon as possible. If the Government of Japan praises the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo as “extremely meaningful,” as stated by Prime Minister Ishiba, it should also clearly state that it aims to sign and ratify the TPNW.

Peace Boat will continue to work with the Hibakusha to achieve a peaceful and sustainable world, free of nuclear weapons.

October 12, 2024
Peace Boat