Pax Christi USA extends its warmest congratulations to Nihon Hidankyo*, an organization founded in 1956 of hibakusha — survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — for receiving this year’s Nobel Peace prize. Hibakusha have spent decades sharing their stories, lobbying governments, and raising awareness about the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons.
From the Nobel Peace prize website: “The extraordinary efforts of Nihon Hidankyo and other representatives of the Hibakusha have contributed greatly to the establishment of a nuclear taboo.”
“We are thrilled about the Nobel Peace prize being awarded to a group of Japanese hibakusha for their dedication to campaigning for nuclear disarmament,” said Jim Thomas, a member of Pax Christi USA’s nuclear disarmament working group. “As a group dedicated to disarmament, Pax Christi draws new inspiration and energy from this recognition. We congratulate the Japanese atomic bomb survivors and stand in solidarity with all hibakusha and all downwinders who have been impacted by their exposure to harmful radiation from the production, testing, and use of nuclear weapons. For the sake of the world and future generations, we will not rest until all nuclear weapons are eliminated.”
*Nihon Hidankyo is a shortened version of the Japanese name of the group, translated into English as “Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.”
More on Pax Christi USA’s recent work on nuclear disarmament:
- Pray-Study-Act for expanded RECA legislation, summer 2024
- From mid-August through mid-September, Pax Christi members in the Pacific Northwest organized a billboard campaign to promote Pope Francis’s strong stance against nuclear weapons.
- Eleven Pax Christi USA members traveled to Japan in March 2024 to meet with church leaders, peace activists and hibakusha
- Members of Pax Christi Massachusetts organized this January 2024 online forum on the threat of nuclear weapons, with panelists Archbishop John Wester, Dr. Ira Helfand, and Marie Dennis
- Mary Yelenick, one of Pax Christi’s representatives to the United Nations, shared this report about the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW MSP2), held at the UN in New York, November 27-December 1, 2023
We encourage all members, if you haven’t done so already, to read Archbishop Wester’s pastoral letter on nuclear weapons and share it with your community. Use this link to order hard copies of the letter.
Cover photo, showing a 2012 choir of hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) singing “Never Again,” courtesy of Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) Organization
Do you remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Do you remember life and love both burning out?
Don’t make anymore of us hibakusha
Don’t ever repeat that horrible day
Can you hear the voice from every nation
Can you hear them calling peace?
Don’t make any more of us hibakusha
No one in the world should suffer this again.