ICAN to accept Nobel Peace Prize

Oslo, Dec 10 (IANS) The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is set to accept on Sunday the highly-coveted 2017 Nobel Peace Prize here for its work in bringing attention to the consequences of the use of nuclear arms and for promoting a treaty-based prohibition on nuclear weapons.

The ICAN, a collection of 468 entities and nonprofits in 101 countries founded in 2007, will be represented by its Executive Director, Beatrice Fihn, and Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945 and has played a very active role in the organisation, Efe news agency reported.

The two will deliver the acceptance speech at the ceremony. ICAN will be awarded 9 million Swedish Krona ($1.1m).

The ambassadors of the US, Britain and France -- three nuclear powers -- will not attend the ceremony in protest of the organisation being the Nobel awardee.

ICAN had played a decisive role in the negotiations that led to an adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was backed by two-thirds of the UN member states on July 7, but boycotted by the nuclear powers and allies.

Before the ceremony, which is set to begin at 1 p.m., the laureates will participate in the traditional ceremony with the children from the NGO - Save the Children - at the Nobel Peace Centre.

The programme will be concluded with the torchlight procession organised by the Norwegian Peace Council and a banquet attended by members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and members of the Norwegian royal family.

ICAN becomes a Nobel Peace laureate organisation one year after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the prize in 2016 for his efforts in negotiating a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.

The Nobel Peace Prize is the only Nobel Prize not given in the Swedish capital Stockholm.

The Stockholm Concert Hall (Stockholms Konserthus) will host the ceremony at 4.30 p.m. for the rest of the awards.