The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the body overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal, has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Committee said it was in honour of the OPCW’s „extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons“.
The OPCW, based in The Hague, was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
OPCW director general Ahmet Uzumcu said the award was a „great honour“ and would spur it on in its work.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the body overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal, has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Committee said it was in honour of the OPCW’s „extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons“.
The OPCW, based in The Hague, was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
OPCW director general Ahmet Uzumcu said the award was a „great honour“ and would spur it on in its work.
He said the deployment of chemical weapons in Syria had been a „tragic reminder that there remains much work to be done“.
The OPCW recently sent inspectors to oversee the dismantling of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.
It is the first time OPCW inspectors have worked in an active war zone.
The watchdog picks up a gold medal and 8m Swedish kronor ($1.25m; £780,000) as winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honours.
