The grassroots movement of survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as hibakusha, is committed to achieving a nuclear-free world – a top priority for the UN.
Mr. Guterres described the hibakusha as “selfless, soul-bearing witnesses of the horrific human cost of nuclear weapons.”
Although their numbers grow smaller each year, their relentless work and resilience are the “backbone” of the global nuclear disarmament movement, he added.
The Secretary-General said he will never forget his many meetings with the hibakusha over the years.
A global inspiration
“Their haunting living testimony reminds the world that the nuclear threat is not confined to history books. Nuclear weapons remain a clear and present danger to humanity, once again appearing in the daily rhetoric of international relations,” he said.
“It is time for world leaders to be as clear-eyed as the hibakusha, and see nuclear weapons for what they are: devices of death that offer no safety, protection, or security. The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them altogether.”
He said the UN proudly stands with the hibakusha who “are an inspiration to our shared efforts to build a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Injured civilians, having escaped the raging inferno, gathered on a pavement west of Miyuki-bashi in Hiroshima, Japan, at about 11 a.m. on 6 August 1945.
End the nuclear arms race
Alessandra Velluci, Director of the UN Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, noted that Nihon Hidankyo has been working with the global body.
Nihon Hidankyo came to the UN in 2018 with the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, to present a petition with eight million signatories requesting the end of a nuclear arms race, nuclear conflict and nuclear weapons.
Reducing and eventually eliminating nuclear weapons has been a priority for the UN, which was established nearly 80 years ago amid the ashes of the Second World War.
The very first General Assembly resolution, adopted in January 1946, sought to address the “problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy”, in the wake of the war.
Our photo story shows how atomic weapons changed the world.
‘Devices of death’
In a recent speech, Mr. Guterres reiterated that “there should be no place for these devices of death in our world.”
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The atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively, marked the only time that nuclear weapons have been used in warfare,
The two cities were annihilated. More than 200,000 people died of nuclear radiation, shock waves from the explosions, and thermal radiation. Hundreds of thousands more have died over the years.
In the aftermath of the bombings, the hibakusha conducted intense investigations in efforts to prevent such destruction from ever occurring again.
Listen to our podcast with author Kathleen Burkinshaw, whose novel about a young hibakusha was inspired by her mother’s experience.
The UN and the hibakusha
The UN has had a longstanding relationship with the hibakusha, and both Mr. Guterres and his predecessor, Ban Ki-moon, have travelled to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to take part in memorial ceremonies held each year.
At the 2010 commemoration in Nagasaki, Mr. Ban paid tribute to the victims and met with several hibakusha. He also laid a wreath at the hypocentre site marking the geographic centre of the bomb’s impact.
Mr. Guterres attended the 2022 ceremony in Hiroshima where he warned that “a new arms race is picking up speed” as leaders enhance their nuclear stockpiles, with almost 13,000 nuclear weapons held worldwide.
The UN chief later met with five hibakusha – three women and two men – and heard their stories. He told the survivors that they have the moral authority to tell leaders that “nuclear weapons are nonsense”.
The hibakusha’s advocacy for a nuclear-free world was the subject of an exhibition at UN Headquarters in New York that same year.
Organized by the UN’s Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA), it brought to life the devastation caused by the atomic bombs and their successor weapons, the more powerful hydrogen bombs or “H-bombs”, which began testing in the 1950s.
Read our coverage of the exhibition here.
Designer Erico Platt looks at the disarmament exhibition
A world at risk
Ms. Nakamitsu, the UN disarmament affairs chief, said she was happy to wake up to the “wonderful news” that Nihon Hidankyo had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The tireless work of the hibakusha has been “absolutely significant” in galvanizing global public support for nuclear disarmament, she told journalists attending the daily media briefing from UN Headquarters.
Given the increase in nuclear risk and rhetoric, she expressed hope that the international community “will be able to reverse the current rather unfortunate and very dangerous trajectory.”