The Norwegian Committee has granted the Nobel Peace Prize 2013 to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for “its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons”, especially now that the Syrian chemical arsenal has proven the urgent need to end up with this kind of armament.
The International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) considers this award to be “a well-deserved recognition for the important task performed by the OPCW over the last years, which has contributed to the elimination of 80% of the world’s chemical weapons”. Moreover, ICIP highlights positively the fact that the award recognizes the fight against disarmament, “one of the prominent figures presented by Alfred Nobel on the establishment of the Award”.
ICIP President, Rafael Grasa, believes that the Prize will be “an incentive for the countries which have not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention to join it; Sudan, Angola, Egypt or Israel, to name a few”.
On the other hand, despite expressing a strong gratitude for the concession of the award to the OPCW, Rafael Grasa also considers that, again this year, the Nobel Peace Prize confirms a controversial tendency, a current tacticism, to recognize persons or institutions that have a relevant influence at the moment of the concession, such as demonstrates the task of the OPCW in Syria”.
11.01.2013
