If the Nobel prizes in fields of sciences and literature are given extreme respect and value, the Nobel peace prizes have mostly been controversial. Its latest example is the peace prize given for Barack Obama whose regime did not make any evident contribution for world peace. Though he had made so many promises in his election campaign that seemed absolutely different from his predecessor, George W. Bush, but after he came into power, not many things changed on the ground. The war in Afghanistan is still deadly, notorious Guantanamo prison still hosts hundreds of prisoners who still wait for their trial and are subject to the worst torture and interrogation in the history, conflicts with American arch-rivals of Cuba, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea are still fully heated up and to worsen the matters, the controversial Drone attacks have been expanded to more and more countries around the globe and American policy of finishing terrorists but not terrorism still remains the same and of course, the results are also the same.

But when the Noble peace prize for 2013 was announced, it was both surprising and laudable. Surprising for the fact that the most favorite of this prize, the brave Pakistani teenage girl Malala Yousufzai could not get this prize who had gained great fame in last few months by having the continuous media coverage for her courageous willpower and her unique ideas to educate the girls of Pakistan to build a genuine safeguard against the root causes of terrorism in her country. But the world community also admired the decision of the Nobel committee to crown the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons or OPCW for its efforts to destroy the chemical weapons of the world and make it a safer place to live.

Unlike many other organs of United Nations and more importantly its famous nuclear-cousin International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the organization kept working silently since its inception in 1997. Since then, it has been busy in doing a job which is both controversial and dangerous. It is a fact that most of the countries and politicians shout in the favor of peace and disarmament but when it comes to the practical grounds, they prefer their own interests on world peace. In such a tricky world of politics, it has always been a dangerous job to interfere in the issues of governments, especially the strong and influential ones, and make them agree to let you inspect their arms and destroy their dearest asset. At the same time, there are present six countries that are yet to become its members. These countries include Israel, North Korea, Egypt, South Sudan, Angola and Burma and some of these countries are always found in a conflict or exist in a conflict zone.

Name of OPCW came into limelight when dozens of civilians, with children in the majority, were attacked with chemical weapons in Syria and both the sides in war blamed the other for this inhuman act. The haunting pictures of rows of white-shrouded corpses of children after the attacks in Damascus shook the humanity to think of curbing these lethal weapons at once. United States and its allies blamed the forces of Assad regime for these attacks and had almost launched a military raid on Damascus that peace process started and ended with the assurances of Assad’s government to allow the inspectors of OPCW to inspect and destroy the stores of Syrian chemical weapons.

Except for the political disagreement, many other dangers also await the inspectors and technical staff of this organization. In case of Syria, the work of inspectors is difficult in a sense that they will have to carry out their functions in a war zone; under the gun fire of two warring sides.  

But the 16 years old history of OPCW was never free of dangers and risk. High explosives and nerve gases are a volatile mix and they can not only endanger the lives of workers but if leaked out of control, can risk the well-being of thousands living in the adjacent areas. A mustard gas shell exploded in the first operation in Albania, and missiles being cut up in the US have sprayed out nerve agent. But with all these, the agency has done remarkable achievements in proving the importance of its existence. Though it never came into spotlight before the Syrian incident, its activities continued effectively and silently and there is a long list of such activities that never cease. It started by the elimination of a bunker full of mustard gas and arsenic-based chemicals left behind by the communist regime in Albania. The entire stockpiles of India and South Korea have also been destroyed and also all the chemical stocks of Muammar Gadhafi in Libya. It has also destroyed 90pc of the US arsenal and vast Russian stocks left from the cold war. At the same time, it is also working to dismantle the weapons left by Japan during its occupation of China. In short, it has done the 80pc elimination of world’s declared chemical weapons stock which is incredible in all regards.

Chemical weapons are considered even more dangerous than the nuclear weapons as their production is comparatively easy and they can be used on a desired level but their impacts have been found to be very hazardous. Since First World War, when the chemical weapons were manufactured as a weapon against the enemy, world has seen many awful events of the use of these weapons that left their lasting and horrible imprints. It was the reason, it was agreed that chemical weapons should be taken out of the list of weapons to be used in war as its effects were so hazardous. In order to make this happen, the OPCW was founded in 1997 and since then, it has silently served its purpose.

Another remarkable identity of this organization is to be international and being free of any kind of international politics or political conflicts. Unlike International Atomic Energy Commission, which is blamed for its discriminative acts to serve the aims of powerful nations of the world against some specific countries, OPCW has never been accused of any such allegations. It is the reason why, its activities have mostly been welcomed in different parts of the world. The 20 inspectors in the first team to deal with the weapons of Syrian regime have been taken from than a dozen countries which makes it an international organization including of inspectors from all the nations of the world.

The Nobel peace prize will now serve to turn up the pressure on the nations which are still not the part of this international organization and at the same time, it brings into light the need of international efforts for controlling the dangerous weapons; not only chemical but also many others that have made this world a very dangerous place to live and war and bloodshed more convenient and lethal. If the world chooses to turn the things around, it will have to keep supporting such organizations without considering their own limited benefits and objectives.