Hi Friend, 

Greetings from Oslo, where atomic bomb survivors, Nobel Peace laureates and activists from around the world have gathered to celebrate a momentous occasion: Nihon Hidankyo’s Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony! 

This incredible group – the Japanese Confederation of Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Sufferers Organizations – which represents hibakusha around the world, received this important and well-deserved recognition for all their tireless work to prevent another Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And this is their big moment in Oslo.   

Hibakusha gather outside Norwegian parliament in Oslo to with symbolic paper cranes, urging Norway to join the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons 
 Dec 9 2024. Photo: ICAN | Kaspar Fosser

For decades, hibakusha have brought the world’s attention to what nuclear weapons actually do to people. They are the leading voices in global abolition efforts, like the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. That is why this entire week is one of celebration, and a promise to carry on their legacy of telling the horrifying truth about these weapons of mass destruction.

The highlight, of course, will be the ceremony and the Nobel lecture, on 10 December at 13:00 - 14:30 Oslo time (12 GMT) which the Nobel Institute will livestream here.

If you are in Oslo, you can find ICAN Norway’s jam-packed calendar of activities here, and we would love it if you could join us. If not, it would mean so much if you could both tune in to the ceremony and also join our social media celebration. Whether it’s during the ceremony, or any time in the coming days, please show your support for their work to end nuclear weapons.

We’ve put together this toolkit so you can:

• Share one of our prewritten posts.
• Take a selfie with a message of solidarity for Nihon Hidankyo.
• Or record a quick video sharing why this win is so meaningful and why you are proud to stand with the Hibakusha.

This award comes at this time when the risk that nuclear weapons will be used again is as high, if not higher, than it has ever been. 

Next year we mark the 80th year since the first use of nuclear weapons. Now more than ever it is important to keep pushing together to support the hibakusha’s wish to make sure that what they suffered never happens again.

We hope we can count on you to make this moment count.

Thank you,

Daniel Högsta
Deputy Director
ICAN