Anti-nuclear campaign ICAN wins 2017 Nobel Peace Prize
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. ICAN is a coalition of non-governmental organizations from around 100 different countries around the globe. It has played a crucial role as a leading civil society actor in the effort to achieve a prohibition of nuclear weapons under international law.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) describes itself as a coalition of grassroots non-government groups in more than 100 nations. It began in Australia and was officially launched in Vienna in 2007.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that the organization is receiving the award 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.
While giving away the award, the Nobel Committee emphasises that the next steps towards attaining a world free of nuclear weapons must involve the nuclear-armed states. It also said that the ICAN has in the past year given the efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons a new direction and new vigour.
The 2017 Peace Prize calls upon nuclear-armed states to initiate negotiations to gradual elimination of the world’s 15,000 nuclear weapons. Nine million Swedish crowns ($1.10 million) will be presented to ICAN in Oslo on December 10.
KV Correspondent
