‘The deaths I witnessed at that time could hardly be described as human deaths. There were hundreds of people suffering in agony, unable to receive any kind of medical attention. I strongly felt that even in war, such killing and maiming must never be allowed to happen.’
With these words, Terumi Tanaka described the horrors of the American atomic bombing of Nagasaki, which he experienced as a thirteen-year-old. He spoke during the presentation of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo: survivors of the atomic bombs that wiped out Hiroshima and Nagasaki eighty years ago. In the immediate aftermath of these bombings, at least 210,000 people lost their lives.
Nihon Hidankyo received the Nobel Prize for its tireless efforts to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world. Together with other survivors of nuclear weapons, its members played a crucial role in the creation of the international Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Their personal stories tell a side of the story about nuclear weapons that is often overlooked: the unimaginable human suffering and the long-term consequences for both physical and mental health. Today, Nihon Hidankyo continues to work to tell the world of the urgent need for disarmament.
The atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 were not the first victims by nuclear weapons. As shown in the film Oppenheimer, the Trinity Test in New Mexico in July 1945 caused the world’s first nuclear explosion. What the film did not show, however, was the terrible impact this nuclear test had on local residents in New Mexico – particularly indigenous and Latino communities – who were not warned or evacuated and were consequently exposed to so much radioactivity that decades later they are still suffering from cancer and all kinds of other health problems.
Since 1945, the United States and other nuclear powers have conducted more than 2,000 nuclear tests, amongst others in Algeria, Australia, French Polynesia, Kazakhstan, and the Marshall Islands, with disastrous consequences for human lives and nature. Affected communities still bear the collective trauma of these tests and continue to fight for recognition, justice, and adequate compensation.
Eighty years after New Mexico, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, the risk of nuclear weapons being used is once again very real. According to the Swedish Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the world is on the brink of a new nuclear arms race. Even ‘limited’ tactical nuclear weapons have a maximum explosive power at least three times greater than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.
The only way to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again is to completely ban these weapons of mass destruction. Terumi Tanaka ended his acceptance speech with this appeal: ‘Particularly, I hope that the belief that nuclear weapons cannot — and must not — coexist with humanity will take firm hold among citizens of the nuclear weapon states and their allies, and that this will become a force for change in the nuclear policies of their governments.’
We therefore continue to warn of the real risk of nuclear weapons being used. The threat has not disappeared – on the contrary, it is growing. We therefore call on states, including the Netherlands, to commit themselves to making nuclear disarmament a priority.
Online children’s memorial
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has launched an online memorial in honour of the estimated 38,000 children who died in the bombings.
Testimonials
Watch to the story of Rumi Hanagaki, who experienced the horrors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the age of five.
