This year鈥檚 Nobel peace prize has been awarded to the , the body that verifies countries鈥� adherence to the treaty prohibiting chemical weapons. The prize, worth $1.25 million, will be presented in Oslo, Norway, on 10 December.
This award is recognition of the organisation鈥檚 current work to disarm Syria鈥檚 chemical weapons stockpile, as well as validating its basic goal of eliminating chemical weapons worldwide say weapons experts. It comes at a critical point for the organisation, which has been struggling with funding and morale.
The OPCW confirmed last month that the nerve agent sarin had been used in an attack near Damascus in August. It is now overseeing an ambitious programme to destroy Syria鈥檚 chemical arsenal amidst the country鈥檚 ongoing civil war.
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Safer for all
鈥淭he prize is not just for helping to deal with a part of the Syrian crisis,鈥� says Alastair Hay of Leeds University in the UK, who is currently in Turkey training Syrian doctors to deal with chemical weapons. 鈥淭he organisation has cajoled 190 countries into signing up to the outlawing chemical weapons. This is painstaking, behind-the-scenes activity and we are all safer as a result.鈥�
, formerly with the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, France, agrees that the prize is a recognition of disarmament. 鈥淭he CWC is the most complete disarmament treaty we have. It鈥檚 not just about prohibition, but about compliance and the teeth to enforce it.鈥�
Countries can, for example, ask OPCW to make a 鈥渃hallenge inspection鈥� of another country on suspicion of chemical weapons.
Yet it has never come to that, mainly because of quiet consultations in the corridors of the OPCW headquarters in Dutch capital The Hague. 鈥淭he US and Iran have settled lingering doubts about the destruction of Iran鈥檚 CW without the megaphone diplomacy typical of other areas of non-proliferation,鈥� says Zanders.
Ending Syrian stalemate
The closest the OPCW has come to an actual challenge inspection happened last month. The US and Russia, Syria鈥檚 main foreign backer, agreed to ask the OPCW to oversee the destruction of Syria鈥檚 chemical weapons. It was the first break in years of deadlock between the two powers over how to handle the civil war in Syria.
Fears that Syria鈥檚 stocks of sarin and mustard gas could end up in the hands of terrorist organisations may have finally gave them common ground. The hope now is that cooperation on chemical weapons will lead to further talks aimed at ending Syria鈥檚 bloody stalemate.
In any case, it seems likely to result in the destruction of Syria鈥檚 munitions. the OPCW use of a mobile chemical destruction plant first reported in 快猫短视频 a month ago. US military engineers designed and built it in a crash programme earlier this year, apparently with a view to the verified destruction of Syria鈥檚 weapons.
Operating in obscurity
The OPCW has been stretched thin lately, with a budget of less than 鈧�80 million, says Zanders. By far the biggest chemical weapons arsenals in the world, in the US and Russia, have yet to be completely destroyed, despite a nominal final deadline in 2012.
鈥淭he OPCW has operated in obscurity for many years, carrying out vital work to move towards a chemical-weapon-free world,鈥� says Richard Guthrie, formerly with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. He believes the prize is 鈥渁 tribute to all the global efforts to eliminate a whole class of the most abhorrent weapons ever devised鈥�.
At least five countries have not yet joined the CWC, notably Syria鈥檚 neighbours Israel and Egypt. This year鈥檚 prize, says Zanders, is a thinly veiled suggestion that they should do so.
The recognition is welcome, he says, after years of US hostility to the OPCW.