The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017: ICAN!

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize is being awarded to ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons! ICAN, also a laureate of the Nuclear-Free Futures Award, recently succeeded in the passage of a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations.

The Nobel Committee's announcement begins:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). 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.

We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time. Some states are modernizing their nuclear arsenals, and there is a real danger that more countries will try to procure nuclear weapons, as exemplified by North Korea. Nuclear weapons pose a constant threat to humanity and all life on earth. Through binding international agreements, the international community has previously adopted prohibitions against land mines, cluster munitions and biological and chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons are even more destructive, but have not yet been made the object of a similar international legal prohibition.

Update on October 6, 2017 by admin

See the New York Times coverage, as well as the Washington Post's.