The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) while some of its staff works in Syria trying to destroy the country’s stockpile of chemical weapons. OPCW is an intergovernmental watchdog formed in 1997 to enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.
In it’s announcement, The Nobel Committee stated that the work of the OPCW has defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law and that the recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have once again underlined the importance of the elimination of these weapons.
OPCW which is based in Hague has been mostly an obscure organization has not been able to persuade all countries to become member states and sign the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Non-members of the OPCW include Israel and Myanmar, which have yet to ratify the convention, and Angola, Egypt, North Korea,South Sudan, which have “neither signed nor acceded” to the convention (www.opcw.org). The CWC aims to eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction by prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons by States Parties. States Parties, in turn, must take the steps necessary to enforce that prohibition in respect of persons (natural or legal) within their jurisdiction.
In a statement by the OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu, talked about the decision by the Nobel Committee: “The decision by the Nobel Committee to bestow this year’s Peace Prize on the OPCW is a great honor for our Organization. We are a small organization which for over 16 years, and away from the glare of international publicity, has shouldered an onerous but Nobel task – to act as the guardian of the global ban on chemical weapons that took effect in 1997.
That year, a hundred-year effort was crowned with success as the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force. Our organization was tasked to verify the elimination of chemical weapons from the world and to encourage all nations to adhere to this hard-earned norm. “We have since then worked with quiet determination to rid the world of these heinous weapons – weapons which have been used to horrific effect throughout the twentieth century, and, sadly, in our own time too. We are conscious of the enormous trust that the international community has bestowed on us. Working to realize the vision of a world free of chemical weapons, we rely on the expertise, professionalism and dedication of our staff – qualities that have been forged through a solid record of achievement.” (http://www.opcw.org/)
