ICAN is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2017!

October 6, 2017, 11:00 am, Oslo, Norway:

"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."

Watch the announcement on Youtube .

Read the press release from the Norwegian Nobel Committee Nobel Prize website .

Reactions

A small and subjective selection.

You can read ICAN's nobel lecture here.

Congratulations by the Austrian Minister for European and International Affairs here (German only).
More statements from Austrian politicians through the Austrian Press Agency (in German).

Austrian Federal President A. van der Bellen on twitter: "Congratulations to @nuclearban! It's our common responsibility to stand for a world without nuclear weapons."

Report by Wiener Zeitung, the official newspaper of the Republic of Austria here (in German)

"In these times of great uncertainty and upheaval in many corners of the world, the work of ICAN is of the utmost urgency." - Dalai Lama http://pic.twitter.com/nkihy5rR4y

MFA Ireland: "Minister welcomes Nobel Peace Prize to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons" read here. Has explicit reference to the core group of states which made the Ban Treaty possible: Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa

DER SPIEGEL says: "Verdient hätten den Friedensnobelpreis neben Ican auch diejenigen, die seit noch Längerem versuchen, ein neues Hiroshima zu verhindern: die vielen Tausend Diplomaten, Wissenschaftler, Fahnder sowie aktive und ehemalige Politiker, die in Organisationen wie der Global-Zero- oder der Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Laboren und Behörden seit Jahrzehnten tagein, tagaus gegen die Verbreitung von Atomwaffen und Nuklearmaterial kämpfen. Einige von ihnen, etwa die Global-Zero-Mitglieder Richard Burt und Igor Iwanow, waren im Kalten Krieg noch Gegner."
(Full text in German: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/friedensnobelpreis-2017-fuer-ican-idealisten-auf-verlorenem-posten-kommentar-a-1171649.html )
Note: among the diplomats, I personally want to highlight Alexander Kmentt (on Twitter ), who - inter alia - was the main organiser of the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons (see link on page above).
Beatrice Fihn [ICAN president](@BeaFihn), Oct 8 on Twitter: Replying to @alexanderkmentt @nuclearban @Nobel Thank you Alex! This would not have happened without yours and Austria's commitment and leadership. The humanitarian pledge changed it all!