Christians nominate Hiroshima survivors for Nobel Peace Prize
-1/02/05
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker humanitarian service organization, has nominated an organization in Japan that represents Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
Nihon Hidankyo is an organization of Hibakusha – survivors of the A-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the subsequent H-bomb testing in the Bikini Atoll.
Founded in 1956, Nihon Hidankyo has worked for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the care and compensation of Hibakusha by the Japanese government.
With chapters in all 47 prefectures (administrative districts) of Japan, one of Nihon Hidankyo’s objectives is to improve current policies and measures on the protection and assistance for survivors. Its officers and members are all atomic bomb survivors.
Over the years, Nihon Hidankyo has helped build the worldwide nuclear abolition movement and has testified at numerous United Nations sessions on nuclear test bans, nuclear non-proliferation, and disarmament.
“We must try to look with the eyes of the Hibakusha,” AFSC general secretary Mary Ellen McNish wrote in the nomination letter.
“Only with that vision might we overcome our denial of the atrocity of nuclear weapons and demand that governments eliminate rather than develop and spread them.”
“Nihon Hidankyo reminds us that we enter this new century with some 30,000 nuclear weapons spread across the world,” the letter continues.
The search for regional peace has been a major focus of the American Friends Service Committee’s highly regarded international affairs work and the group has a long history working for peace and reconciliation in an atmosphere of
war.
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the order that authorized the forced internment of thousands of Japanese Americans. AFSC however provided temporary aid, housing and other assistance to Japanese-Americans in efforts to get them out of internment camps.
In 1947, AFSC and the British Friends Service Council itself accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends for humanitarian service, work for reconciliation, and the spirit in which these were carried out.
Christians nominate Hiroshima survivors for Nobel Peace Prize
-1/02/05
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker humanitarian service organization, has nominated an organization in Japan that represents Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
Nihon Hidankyo is an organization of Hibakusha – survivors of the A-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the subsequent H-bomb testing in the Bikini Atoll.
Founded in 1956, Nihon Hidankyo has worked for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the care and compensation of Hibakusha by the Japanese government.
With chapters in all 47 prefectures (administrative districts) of Japan, one of Nihon Hidankyo’s objectives is to improve current policies and measures on the protection and assistance for survivors. Its officers and members are all atomic bomb survivors.
Over the years, Nihon Hidankyo has helped build the worldwide nuclear abolition movement and has testified at numerous United Nations sessions on nuclear test bans, nuclear non-proliferation, and disarmament.
“We must try to look with the eyes of the Hibakusha,” AFSC general secretary Mary Ellen McNish wrote in the nomination letter.
“Only with that vision might we overcome our denial of the atrocity of nuclear weapons and demand that governments eliminate rather than develop and spread them.”
“Nihon Hidankyo reminds us that we enter this new century with some 30,000 nuclear weapons spread across the world,” the letter continues.
The search for regional peace has been a major focus of the American Friends Service Committee’s highly regarded international affairs work and the group has a long history working for peace and reconciliation in an atmosphere of
war.
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the order that authorized the forced internment of thousands of Japanese Americans. AFSC however provided temporary aid, housing and other assistance to Japanese-Americans in efforts to get them out of internment camps.
In 1947, AFSC and the British Friends Service Council itself accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends for humanitarian service, work for reconciliation, and the spirit in which these were carried out.