Anti-nuclear weapons group ICAN wins Nobel Peace Prize

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) on Friday won the Global peace prize for its decade-long anti-nuclear weapon campaign.

The peace prize was given to the ICAN for its “groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty prohibition”, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Nobel committee chair said.

“The organisation 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,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen.

"We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time," she added.

Andersen also cited the issue of nuclear war crises over North Korea and asked nuclear-armed states to start a process to gradually eliminate such weapons.

The award ceremony for Nobel prizes will take place on December 10, the date of Alfred Nobel's death.