A World Free of Nuclear Weapons Is More Aspirational Than Realistic

A World Free of Nuclear Weapons Is More Aspirational Than Realistic
People walk past the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan, April 23, 2023 (photo by Shohei Izumi for The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images).

Last week the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations, known by its Japanese acronym Nihon Hidankyo. The confederation represents survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II as well as people affected by Cold War-era nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific. As its name suggests, the group was recognized 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.”

Nihon Hidankyo is a worthy recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, particularly in a world in which the risk of nuclear weapons use seems to be ever rising. I’ve written previously of the criticisms frequently leveled at the prize, which include the inauspicious individuals to whom it has at times been awarded and the committee’s use of the prize to make a political statement rather than to truly honor those who advance the efforts of peace. But this year’s recipient seems to fit the prize’s true purpose, which according to Alfred Nobel’s will is to recognize the individual or group “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. 

Since the creation of the first nuclear bombs, many have hoped and called for limiting their proliferation and even eliminating them altogether. Indeed, the Nobel Prize Committee has frequently recognized groups focused on nuclear disarmament, such as the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in 2017, the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2005, the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs in 1995 and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in 1985. The prize has also gone to individuals focused on nuclear disarmament, such as Linus Pauling in 1962 and jointly to Alva Myrdal and Alfonso Garcia Robles in 1982. When then-U.S. President Barack Obama was surprisingly awarded the prize in 2009, it was in large part because of his vision for a nuclear-free world.

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