The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to an advocacy group behind the first treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, The New York Times reported.
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The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a coalition of disarmament activists, was honored for its work to advance the negotiations that led to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was ratified in July at the United Nations.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Norwegian Nobel committee chairwoman, said the prize was awarded to the group because of its "groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty prohibition" on nuclear weapons," the BBC reported.
"We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time," she said.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the Geneva-based group "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons," NBC News reported.
ICAN is a coalition of non-governmental organizations from around 100 different countries around the globe. The committee said ICAN has given the movement toward the world without nuclear weapons a new direction and new vigor.
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