The OPCW, an
obscure body recently thrust into the
spotlight by the Syria crisis, on Friday
won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work
to rid the world of chemical weapons.
The UN-backed Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW) was honoured "for its extensive
efforts to eliminate chemical weapons,"
Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern
Jagland said in announcing the surprise
choice.
"Recent events in Syria, where chemical
weapons have again been put to use,
have underlined the need to enhance
the efforts to do away with such
weapons," the Norwegian jury said in
its statement.
The chemical watchdog was not
considered among the frontrunners for
the prize until the eve of the
announcement.
Teenage Pakistani education activist
Malala Yousafzai and Congolese doctor
Denis Mukwege had been among the
favourites for this year's prize.
This marks the second consecutive year
an organisation has won the prestigious
award. Last year's award went to the
European Union.
The Hague-based OPCW was founded in
1997 to implement the Chemical
Weapons Convention signed on January
13, 1993.
Until recently operating in relative
obscurity, the OPCW has suddenly been
catapulted into the global spotlight
because of its work supervising the
dismantling of Syria's chemical arsenal
and facilities.
This has to be completed by mid-2014
under the terms of a UN Security
Council resolution.
A team of around 30 OPCW arms
experts and UN logistics and security
personnel are on the ground in Syria
and have started to destroy weapons
production facilities.
The OPCW said on Tuesday it was
sending a second wave of inspectors to
bolster the disarmament mission in the
war-ravaged nation.
The Rights Livelihood Foundation, a
Swedish NGO that recently awarded a
prize to chemical weapons expert Paul
Walker, hailed the Nobel jury's decision
as "a great choice".
"It shows that multilateral processes
and the technical solutions to rid the
world of chemical weapons do exist,"
said Ole von Uexkull, the foundation's
director, in a statement.
Since the OPCW came into existence 16
years ago, it has destroyed 57,000
tonnes of chemical weapons, the
majority of them leftovers from the
Cold War held by the United States and
Russia.
"It's the slow steady laying down of
bricks over the weeks, months and
years, people sitting in control rooms
watching this stuff going into the
chutes," OPCW spokesman Michael
Luhan said recently.
Luhan, speaking before the prize was
awarded, described the OPCW's work as
characterised by "persistence" and
"without any fanfare."
"It's the slow grinding work that we
hope over time will be more
appreciated," he said.
The OPCW's work was the "subject of
years and years of patient diplomacy in
which we've demonstrated that we do
diplomacy very, very well. We've kept
everybody aboard, we keep adding
states parties, we're approaching
universality."
To date, the OPCW has 189 members
representing more than 98 percent of
the world population, with Syria due to
become a full-fledged member of the
convention on Monday.
Israel and Myanmar signed in 1993 but
have not yet ratified, according to the
OPCW website.
Four states -- North Korea, Angola,
Egypt, South Sudan -- have neither
signed nor ratified the Convention.
The OPCW also provides assistance and
protection to any member state subject
to threats or attacks with chemical
weapons.
Luhan, the OPCW spokesman, said any
reaction to the peace prize would be
posted on the organisation's website,
adding it did not want to create the
impression that it was focussed on
anything but its work.
"We're in the process of trying to
achieve something in Syria," he said.
"If we achieve the objectives of this
mission, then there'll be something to
celebrate."
The head of the Stockholm peace
research institute SIPRI meanwhile
hailed the choice of laureate.
"I think it is a well deserved and highly
regarded organisation worthy of this
prize," SIPRI head Tilman Brueck.
"I think it will increase the pressure on
the last states that have not joined the
OPCW to do so, and there are some
security hotspots concerning chemical
weapons and it will focus attention on
those," he said. – AFP
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