Anti-nuclear-weapons group wins Nobel Peace Prize - LA Times
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With the threat of a nuclear conflict growing ever more real, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to a coalition of disarmament activists that lobbied for the first treaty to ban atomic arms.
The treaty includes a commitment “never under any circumstances to develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” It also bans the transfer, use or threat to use of nuclear weapons.
The treaty will enter into force after it has been ratified by 50 parties. So far, only three have done so.
The United States and close allies, including France and Britain, have rejected the effort, calling it misguided and dangerous.
“A purported ban on nuclear weapons that does not address the security concerns that continue to make nuclear deterrence necessary cannot result in the elimination of a single nuclear weapon and will not enhance any country’s security, nor international peace and security,” the three countries said in a statement issued after the treaty was adopted.
The recipient of the award, a Geneva-based coalition known by the acronym ICAN, disputes the premise that nuclear weapons are a legitimate and essential source of security.
"We can’t threaten to indiscriminately slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians in the name of security. That’s not how you build security,” the group’s executive director, Beatrice Fihn, told reporters Friday.