In Oslo, Norway, anti-nuclear activists who survived the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have accepted the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for “efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.” Terumi Tanaka, who delivered the acceptance speech on behalf of the grassroots Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, warned that nuclear powers including Russia and Israel are threatening to break a long-standing taboo against the use of nuclear weapons.

Terumi Tanaka: “Our movement has undoubtedly played a major role in creating the nuclear taboo. However, there still remain 12,000 nuclear warheads on Earth today, 4,000 of which are operationally deployed, ready for immediate launch. The nuclear superpower Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine, and a Cabinet member of Israel, in the midst of its unrelenting attacks on Gaza in Palestine, even spoke of the possible use of nuclear arms. In addition to the civilian casualties, I am infinitely saddened and angered that the nuclear taboo threatens to be broken.”