Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group Nihon Hidankyo wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organisation of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons.

• This year’s prize was awarded against a backdrop of devastating conflicts raging in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan

Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the award was made as the "taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure."

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a shift in his country's nuclear doctrine, in a move aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons. It appeared to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Watne Frydnes 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."

Hidankyo's Hiroshima branch chairperson, Tomoyuki Mimaki, who was standing by at the city hall for the announcement, cheered and teared up when he received the news.

"Is it really true? Unbelievable!" Mimaki screamed.

Efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons have been honoured before by the Nobel Committee.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the Peace Prize in 2017, and in 1995 Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won 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 Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.