OPCW - The Hague Award
Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition Awarded OPCW-The Hague Award
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the City of The Hague in The Netherlands jointly awarded the prestigious OPCW-The Hague Award to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Coalition on November 28, 2022.
The OPCW-The Hague Award is given annually on the first day of the CWC Conference of States Parties (CSP) in The Hague. The award began eight years ago after the OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for verifying the abolition of all declared chemical weapon stockpiles; it seeks to recognize those individuals and organizations which have been active in promoting and implementing a world free of chemical weapons and thereby shares the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. The award has been given to twelve individuals and organizations to date, and carries a 90,000 Euro prize. This year (2022) it was shared with three organizations – the CWC Coalition, the Federal Risks Brigade of the Federal Police of Argentina, and the Population Protection Institute of the Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic.
Dr. Paul Walker, Coordinator of the CWC Coalition, accepted the prize in The Hague on behalf of the CWC Coalition, and stated: “The CWC, the OPCW, and all delegations here play critical roles in helping us all build a world free of chemical weapons. But such far-reaching and historic multilateral treaties also require the global village to truly universalize and fully implement their mandates. We therefore will continue to underline the importance of civil society involvement at all levels – local, national, regional, and international – in order to build a much more safe and secure world, and to prevent any reemergence of such deadly weapons of mass destruction.”
More information about the award and the other 2022 recipients is available on the OPCW website.
You can view the entire ceremony on the OPCW YouTube account.