Nobel Peace Prize WInners Raise Awareness Against Chemical Weapons

The Nobel Committee achieved global relevancy with its selection of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The OPCW has been active lately in overseeing the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria, reported The Swedish Academy.

Though 16-year-old Pakistani education-advocate Malala Yousafzai and Congolese physician Denis Mukwege had the better story lines, the OPCW's win had greater global implications.

"I truly hope that this award ... will help broader efforts to achieve peace in that country and (ease) the suffering of its people," OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu told reporters Friday afternoon. "The recognition that the peace prize brings will spur us to untiring effort, even stronger commitment and greater dedication."

According to CNN, a team of OPCW agents eliminated chemical weapons in Syria this week. Because of the state of the country and reports that Syria may hold back on some of its weapons, the plan was rife with dangerous outcomes. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the mission "an operation the likes of which, quite simply, have never been tried before."

The Nobel Prize Committee insisted its selection wasn't just about Syria, reported CNN.

"It is because of its long-standing efforts to eliminate chemical weapons and that we are now about to reach the goal and do away with a whole category of weapons of mass destruction," committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said. "That would be a great event in history, if we can achieve that."

Still, Jagland admitted the award was intended to raise awareness of recent chemical attacks, according to CNN.

The decision highlighted another objective of the Nobel Prize, outlined by The Swedish Academy's press release: "Disarmament figures prominently in Alfred Nobel's will. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has through numerous prizes underlined the need to do away with nuclear weapons. By means of the present award to the OPCW, the Committee is seeking to contribute to the elimination of chemical weapons."

Organizations have won the top prize many times before, including Doctors Without Borders, U.N. peacekeeping forces, the U.N. atomic energy agency, the Red Cross, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, CNN reported.