The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Japanese Hibakusha organisation Nihon Hidankyo, the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced at a press conference in Oslo.
Hibakusha is the grassroots movement for survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings in 1945.
Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said Nihon Hidankyo had become "the largest and most influential Hibakusha organisation in Japan" and had made efforts for "a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating ... that nuclear weapons must never be used again".
He said the Nobel committee "wishes to honour all survivors who, despite physical suffering and painful memories, have chosen to use their costly experience to cultivate hope and engagement for peace".
The 'nuclear taboo'
The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024. (AFP: Javad Parsa / NTB)
He credited the organisation with contributing to the "nuclear taboo", referring to the status quo wherein world powers avoid nuclear weapon use.
"Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen," he said.
"Today's nuclear weapons have far greater destructive power."
Mr Fryndes stressed it was "alarming that today this taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure" with new countries acquiring nuclear weapons and others bolstering their arsenals.
"A nuclear war could destroy our civilisation," he said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, saying it sent a "powerful message".
United Nations spokesperson in Geneva, Alessandra Vellucci, said the movement for Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors "fights against ... even the idea that such a war can be fought again".
"We've seen the effects of the bomb in the Second World War. We have got now weapons that are so many more times more powerful than those that we use in Hiroshima and Nagasaki," she said.
The Peace Research Institute in Oslo released a statement that "we cannot ignore" the "devastating human cost of nuclear weapons".
"This prize highlights the need for global cooperation to steer humanity away from another world war and towards lasting global peace," it said.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Director Dan Smith called attention to the "very dangerous situation" seeing China-US relations and Russia-US relations at "the most toxic" they have been since the end of the Cold War.
Peace Prize winner compares post-war Japan to Gaza
Nihon Hidankyo's co-head Toshiyuki Mimaki held back tears upon hearing the announcement. (Reuters: Kyodo)
Nihon Hidankyo's co-head Toshiyuki Mimaki, a survivor himself, was standing by at the Hiroshima City Hall for the announcement.
"Never did I dream this could happen," he said in a news conference.
"I can't believe it's real," he said as he held back tears and pinched his cheek.
He said the prize would give a major boost towards efforts to demonstrate that the abolition of nuclear weapons was possible.
"It would be a great force to appeal to the world that the abolition of nuclear weapons can be achieved."
"Nuclear weapons should absolutely be abolished."
This is an image from the 1945 Hiroshima atomic blast. (AP)
He added the situation for children in Gaza is similar to the situation in Japan at the end of World War II.
"In Gaza, children in blood are being held. It's like in Japan 80 years ago," Mr Mimaki said.
"It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists," he told reporters.
"For example, if Russia uses them against Ukraine, Israel against Gaza, it won't end there. Politicians should know these things."
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hailed the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo as "extremely meaningful".
This is an image of the mushroom cloud seen after the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bombing. (AP)
"The fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to this organisation, which has spent many years working toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, is extremely meaningful," he told reporters.
The mayor of Hiroshima denounced nuclear weapons as "absolute evil" after the Nobel Peace Prize announcement.
"Hibakusha are fast aging and there are fewer and fewer people able to testify to the meaninglessness of possessing atomic bombs, and their absolute evil," Mayor Kazumi Matsui told reporters.
UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said the prize showed "recognition of the importance of grassroots organisations" and acknowledged "survivors of horrific violations".
Prize will be presented in December
Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes announced the winner at an Oslo press conference. (AP: Javad Parsa/NTB Scanpix)
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has regularly put focus on the issue of nuclear weapons, most recently with its award to the the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), who won the award in 2017.
"The Hibakusha help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons," the committee said in a statement.
The Peace Prize is worth 11 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.57 million.
It is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
A total of 286 candidates were nominated for this year's Peace Prize, including Donald Trump, the Pope and David Attenborough.
There had been some speculation before the announcement that the Norwegian Nobel Committee would opt not to award a prize at all this year, as it has abstained from awarding a winner in past years of conflict.
The Peace Prize has been awarded 104 times since 1901.
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.
Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of the dropping of nuclear bombs by the United States on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.