Samples brought back from Syria by the chemical weapons inspection team are checked in on their arrival at The Hague, Netherlands. Source: AP
OPCW team working in Syria to eliminate chemical arms stockpiles react to the news that the watchdog group won the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
THE Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, now overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemicals weapons arsenal, has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, edging out 16-year-old Pakistani education advocate Malala Yousafzai.
The OPCW, set up in 1997 to eliminate chemicals weapons, was named the 94th Nobel laureate in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, last night "for its extensive work in eliminating chemical weapons".
"Recently 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 Nobel Institute's committee chairman, Thorbjorn Jagland, said in announcing the decision.
"This is not only about Syria, though of course Syria has highlighted the terrible role of chemical weapons once again."
Mr Jagland said he hoped the decision would convince non-signatories to sign on to the convention on chemical weapons, and other states to comply with its requirement to eliminate arsenals.
OPCW head Ahmet Uzumcu told reporters in The Hague, the seat of the organisation, that the prize could help boost his group's efforts.
"I hope this prize will give new impetus in the future,'' he said. "Syria remains a great challenge to the organisation.''
Jerry Smith, the head of field operations for the OPCW mission in Syria, told AFP : "We will celebrate the Nobel Peace Prize when our mission in Syria is successfully completed."
After the announcement Malala congratulated the OPCW and thanked those who had pressed for her to win.
"The OPCW is an important organisation working on the ground to help rid the world of chemical weapons. I would like to congratulate them on this much-deserved global recognition,'' she said.
"I would also like to thank the people and media in Pakistan, and those from all over the world, for their support, kindness and prayers.
"I will continue to fight for the education for every child, and I hope people will continue to support me in my cause.''
The Pakistani Taliban said they were "delighted'' she missed out on the prize.
Malala then visited Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House.
Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize closed in February, months before Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, faced with the threat of a possible US military strike, agreed to destroy his regime's chemical weapons arsenal.
But the OPCW's mission has gained critical importance since it was charged last month with eliminating that arsenal, following a sarin gas strike in the suburbs of Damascus in August that killed more than 1400 people.
Inspectors will spend the next year overseeing the dismantling process.
Mr Thorbjorn would not comment last night on questions about Malala, who some have speculated was overlooked because the burden of winning such a prestigious prize could prove too great for a 16-year-old.
Though he said there was nothing in the will of Alfred Nobel, for whom the award is named, that placed limits on the age of a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "we always think about the effect the prize will have on the winner". The Nobel Committee operates in strict secrecy and does not reveal the nominees for an award until 50 years after the announcement.
In recent days, Malala, who was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen a year ago for campaigning for girls' rights to an education, had firmed as favourite to win.
The rumours had prompted fresh threats from the Taliban, who claimed she had "done nothing" to deserve the prize.
Even some supporters opposed her winning, with the head of the influential Stockholm Peace Research Institute warning that imposing such a prestigious prize on a child "might not be ethical".
Others suggested the 16-year-old was "too good" for the Peace Prize, which has invited great controversy - most recently when US President Barack Obama was awarded it even as he authorised a military surge in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Malala was awarded the EU's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize, and also the Pride of Britain medal.
In the year since her attack and her evacuation to Britain for emergency medical treatment, she has become a global education advocate, addressing the UN, meeting world leaders and publishing an autobiography.
Such accolades have made her an international hero, but within Pakistan they have led to suspicion that the West has "hijacked" her to promote selective human rights causes.
Had she won, she would have been the Prize's youngest recipient. But in an interview with Pakistani radio this week, Malala admitted she did not yet feel worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Hague-based OPCW has 189 member states and operates on an annual budget of less than $US100 million ($105.9m).
Norway's Peace Research Institute spokesman, Kristian Berg Harpviken, said this year's prize winner "fitted very well into a pattern of disarmament prizes" bestowed by the Nobel Institute.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who won the peace prize in 1990, said in a statement that the Nobel would "provide the impetus to accelerate efforts to rid the world of these deadly weapons".
Additional reporting: AFP
