"This year's Nobel Peace Prize has lit up our path ahead by reminding us of the past, and of the consequences of ignoring the perils of nuclear weapons use," said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in his keynote address at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum 2024 in Oslo.
Mr Grossi was speaking one day after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyō, the Japanese organization of hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.
In a time of increasing fragmentation and conflict, the world has come to a crucial crossroads as it navigates the perils of the atomic age, Mr Grossi warned. Growing numbers of nuclear warheads, increased talk of nuclear weapons use, and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are all intensifying nuclear risks.
In his speech, Mr Grossi recalled a formative encounter with a hibakusha woman when he visited Hiroshima as a young diplomat decades ago. "I have carried to every meeting, to every negotiation, and to every posting, the memory of this woman's silent testimony," he said. "The look in her eyes has stayed with me ever since, like a powerful reminder, a secret mandate, to work so that her suffering is never repeated."
A return to diplomacy and dialogue
"When it comes to working on behalf of peace and security, playing it safe is dangerous," Mr Grossi said, calling for an urgent return to diplomacy and dialogue and on the leaders of international organizations to step up as effective brokers of peace.
"We must be proactive in building the trust and protections that lower the risk of close calls and of brinksmanship, especially during today's tensions," he said. "Not taking active steps means we rely on luck - or the assumption that the other side will show restraint - to save us from nuclear war. The longer you rely on luck, the more likely it is to run out."
He urged leaders to act, reminding them of key moments during the Cold War when bold leadership led to dialogue, a reduction of tensions and important norms and arms reduction treaties. "Difficult times call for enlightened leadership, at the national level, and the international level as well," Mr Grossi said, stressing that engagement among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council was critically important to deescalating tensions and to reducing "nuclear sabre rattling."
"Conflict and tensions compel nations to arm themselves. Diplomacy and compromise create conditions in which they can disarm," he said.
Mr Grossi also called on leaders of multilateral organizations to use their mandates, tools and good offices to help guide the world through today's challenges to peace and security.
He said that the IAEA was doing its part, mentioning the Agency's continuous presence at nuclear power facilities in Ukraine. "We are informing the world of what's going on and reducing the chance that a radiological incident enflames the conflict and causes even more devastation."
In addition, Mr Grossi has been continuously engaging with Iran in an effort to reduce tensions and to keep the country within the Non-Proliferation Treaty and international non-proliferation norms.
Promoting non-proliferation
Mr Grossi warned of the continued danger of nuclear proliferation and urged non-nuclear weapon states not to fall for the siren call of the world's most destructive weapon of mass destruction. "Acquiring a nuclear weapon will not increase national security, it will do the opposite. Other countries will follow. And this will contribute to the unravelling of a non-proliferation regime that has had its ups and downs - and it still has its limitations - but none-the-less it has served humanity extraordinarily well."
He urged both nuclear weapon and non-weapon states to work together with "an iron-clad resolve to observe and strengthen the global non-proliferation regime."
"Putting the international system back on track is within our reach," Mr Grossi concluded. "World leaders, including those at the top of the multilateral system, have a duty and an irrevocable responsibility to work towards this."
"Personally, I am convinced," he added. "Perhaps, because the secret mandate I received that day in Hiroshima from a hibakusha burns in me, stronger than ever."
While in Oslo, Mr Grossi met with Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barthe Eide and International Development Minister Anne Beate Tvinnereim. He also spoke at Al Jazeera's Nobel Interview 2024.
Read the full speech and watch Mr Grossi's keynote address here.
