Anti-nuclear campaign wins 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

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The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), for its work drawing "attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.

ICAN is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in 100 nations, working to promote adherence to and full implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

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“We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time.” Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairperson of the five-member committee added. ICAN "has been a driving force in prevailing upon the world's nations to cooperate with all relevant stakeholders in efforts to stigmatize, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons."

The Nobel Prize seeks to bolster the case of disarmament amid nuclear tensions between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and uncertainty over the fate of a 2015 deal between Iran and major powers to limit Tehran’s nuclear program.

US President Donald Trump said at his UN speech last month that the Iran deal was an “embarrassment” and threatened to unilaterally withdraw from the accord. A senior administration official said on Thursday that Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the landmark pact.

The Nobel Prize was created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel and was first awarded in 1901.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announces the laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize 2017: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), during a press conference in Oslo, Norway, October 6, 2017. /Reuters Photo

According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

“The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has a solid grounding in Alfred Nobel’s will,” said Reiss-Andersen.

The organization initially began in Australia and was officially launched in the Austrian capital Vienna in 2007.

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency