Nobel Peace Prize 2017 awarded to anti-nuclear campaign ICAN

The Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2017 has been awarded to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) 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," in Oslo.

Announcing the Laureates, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, 

Watch the very moment the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize is announced! #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/H0AtcRU7tn

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2017

The Nobel Committee emphasizes that the next steps towards attaining a world free of nuclear weapons must involve the nuclear-armed states.

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2017

Nobel Committee: ICAN has in the past year given the efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons a new direction and new vigour.

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2017

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 9 million Swedish Kronor, will be presented in Oslo.

You can read about the details The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 here

The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN has a solid grounding in Alfred Nobel’s will. @nuclearban #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/ALQatCVRjR

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2017

The average age of the winners is 61 with Malala Yousafzai being the youngest who was only 14 when she won in 2014. 97 Peace prizes have been awarded amongst 130 individuals so far since 1901.

In 2016, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts towards ending 52-year-old civil war which cost the lives of over 220,000 citizens.

It is believed that working closely with Bertha von Suttner influenced Alfred Nobel's views on peace. Therefore, the peace prize was added as the final prize in Nobel's will. The will says that the award will be given to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.