Nobel peace prize awarded to Japanese atomic bomb survivors’ group

Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, said: ‘Nuclear weapons should absolutely be abolished.’ Photograph: Justin McCurry/The Guardian

Survivors of the atomic bombings of Japan almost eight decades ago have won the Nobel peace prize for their campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations – commonly known as Nihon Hidankyo – received the accolade one year before the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and at a time of growing concern about the possible use of nuclear weapons.