The Nobel Peace Prize 2017 was conferred on the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). This is a reiteration of the fear that we all feel as two erratic world leaders talk a nuclear language. It is equally a recognition for the 122 countries that backed the 2017 United Nations treaty this summer to ban the nuclear bomb.
With cluster munitions, land mines and chemical and biological weapons having been banned, nuclear weapons remained the last category of weapons of mass destruction that had not been outlawed.ICAN’s emphasis on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear destruction have galvanised global support for the new treaty.
For the last 72 years, survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US in World War II, have bravely shared their horrific experience to raise public awareness about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and the urgent need to abolish them to ensure nobody ever has to endure what they have suffered. But now leaders like Kim-Jong Un and Trump are suddenly creating fearful ripples as they a language of revenge and retaliation.
Nuclear power for civil use has become an urgent necessity in face of fast depleting conventional fuel. But its development by some states for conflict situations needs to be checked strongly.
The Nobel Peace Prize to an anti-nuclear campaign group is very apt, and is a reminder that larger humanitarian factors are at play, then the egos of two narcissistic state leaders.
