The Director of the Peace Institute on the Nobel Peace Prize 2017
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) “for its work to draw 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”. ICAN is a coalition of non-governmental organizations from around a hundred countries around the world. The Nobel Committee explains that ICAN has been a driving force in prevailing upon the world’s nations to pledge to cooperate with all relevant stakeholders in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons. Currently, 108 states have made such a commitment, known as the Humanitarian Pledge. The Nobel Committee further explains that ICAN has been the leading civil society actor in the endeavour to achieve a prohibition of nuclear weapons under international law. Comment from the Peace Institute’s Director Kjell-Åke Nordquist: This year’s Peace Prize concerns the very topical issue of nuclear weapons, a classical area for peace work. At least in principle, many parties agree that nuclear weapons are devastating to humanity and should be banned. The Peace Prize has also previously been awarded to persons or organizations for similar purposes, […]