Global group working for nuclear weapons' abolition wins 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize “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.”

Founded in 2007, ICAN is a nuclear disarmament group based in Switzerland. It is a coalition of non-governmental organizations from over 100 countries that advocates “a strong and effective nuclear weapon ban treaty.” This global group played a pivotal role in the signing of a global agreement in July 2017 to ban nuclear weapons. Commending ICAN’s efforts of bringing world peace by trying to ban nuclear weapons, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Nobel committee chair, said, “We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time.”

Speaking about the significance of winning the prize, the organization's chief executive Beatrice Fihn said: "The prize sends a very strong signal that this [nuclear activity] is unacceptable, you have to stop and you have to join majority of states in the world that have concluded that this is unacceptable and illegal." She added that governments should stop considering nuclear weapons as an essential part of national security since this belief is misguided.

The ICAN team will receive a gold medal as well as a cash prize of nine million Swedish kronor (£845,000). 

Congratulations!