Campaign to ban nuclear weapons wins Nobel Peace Prize

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a Geneva-based coalition of more than 100 disarmament organizations, is to receive the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. ICAN “is receiving the award for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons,” said Norwegian Nobel Committee president Berit Reiss-Andersen in announcing the prize on Friday in Oslo, Norway.

The prize-winning coalition proposed and successfully advocated for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which gained the backing of 122 United Nations member states in July. The treaty will go into effect when 50 countries formally ratify it. None of the 122 signees, however, are nations that possess nuclear weapons. Russia, the US, the UK, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel all opposed the treaty, which by outright banning nuclear weapons goes far beyond the pledge in the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to work toward nuclear disarmament.

The Nobel committee didn’t hide its intentions to spur the nuclear-armed states to action, calling on them “to initiate serious negotiations with a view to the gradual, balanced and carefully monitored elimination of the almost 15 000 nuclear weapons in the world.” As of several hours after the announcement, none of those governments had congratulated ICAN or commented on the prize.

Along with the deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US, plus Germany), ICAN’s prohibition treaty is a rare example of action on arms control over the past few years. The most recent five-year review of the NPT ended in a stalemate over a proposal for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East (see Physics Today, July 2015, page 22 ). Nearly all the nuclear-armed states are in the process of modernizing their arsenals . Last month North Korea tested what is believed to be a small hydrogen bomb. And uncertainty caused by the actions of the current US administration has ratcheted up both fears of an accidental nuclear exchange and worries that existing agreements, particularly the Iran deal, will fall apart. In its statement, the Nobel committee claimed that “the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time.”

Jayantha Dhanapala, who has served as president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and as under-secretary-general for disarmament affairs at the UN, agrees with the committee’s choice and sentiment. “Today’s leaders speak of nuclear war with horrifying glibness,” he says. “The reality is that 15 000 nuclear warheads are poised for use by intention or accident by states and non-state actors. Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN for drawing our attention to nuclear disarmament and the need for the treaty outlawing nuclear weapons is welcome.”

Beatrice Fihn, ICAN’s executive director, told reporters that she initially thought the news was a prank. The award is “a huge signal” that the group’s work is “needed and appreciated,” she said.

The coalition is the 24th group to receive the peace prize; it’s rare for an organization to be named the sole winner. But the Norwegian Nobel Committee has never been shy about awarding the peace prize for efforts in nuclear arms control and reducing nuclear tensions. Previous laureates include American chemist Linus Pauling (1962) for his disarmament work; Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō (1974) for signing the nonproliferation treaty; Alva Myrdal and Alfonso Garcia Robles (1982) for their work on nuclear weapon–free zones; International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985) for “creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare"; Polish physicist Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (1995) for their efforts on several treaties and disarmament issues; and Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency (2005) for their work on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

“It is now 71 years since the UN General Assembly, in its very first resolution, advocated the importance of nuclear disarmament and a nuclear weapon–free world,” the Nobel press release said. “With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to pay tribute to ICAN for giving new momentum to the efforts to achieve this goal.”