Little-Known Chemical Weapons Watchdog Wins Nobel Peace Prize Alan Cowell - The New York Times
go to original October 11, 2013

Nobel Peace Prize 2013 goes to chemical weapons watchdog OPCW (ReutersVideo)

LONDON — Urging the destruction of “an entire category” of unconventional weapons, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its 2013 Peace Prize on Friday to a relatively modest and little-known United Nations-backed body that has drawn sudden attention with a mission to destroy Syria’s stocks of chemical arms under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States.

The award to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, usually known by its initials O.P.C.W., took some Nobel-watchers by surprise. In the days leading up to the award, much attention had focused on Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani student who risked her life to campaign for female education and whose name was circulating as the potential youngest ever recipient.

In its citation, the committee said the O.P.C.W. and the conventions under which it was founded in 1997 “have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law. 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.”

It was the second successive year that the panel, based in Oslo, chose an organization for its accolade. The European Union won the 2012 prize.

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