Nobel Peace Prize for Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-atomic weapons organization

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to the Japanese anti-atomic weapons organization Nihon Hidankyo, which brings together survivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to AFP.

Nihon Hidankyo received the award "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," said the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes.

"This year's prize is a prize that focuses on the necessity of upholding this nuclear taboo. And we have all a responsibility, particularly the nuclear powers," he added.

Japan's prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, welcomed the news: "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."