The Director-General delivered a keynote address at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, which took place in Minneapolis on 6-9 March. The work of the OPCW featured prominently at this year’s Forum in photo exhibits and a dialogue session devoted to future challenges for chemical disarmament.
In a broad-ranging speech, “A Disarmament for Peace”, Ambassador Üzümcü noted the “vital and intuitive link between disarmament and peace.” He outlined the impact that a comprehensive approach to disarmament can have on peace creation, noting that “disarmament is no more just the absence of weapons than peace is the absence of war.” The Director-General also emphasised the importance of education in creating a “bulwark that sees scientists working instinctively for peace.”
In the course of the forum, Ambassador Üzümcü met President Jimmy Carter and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW oversees the global campaign to permanently eliminate these weapons. Since its entry into force in 1997 the Convention has become the fastest growing arms treaty in history with 190 States Parties, and 85 percent of all declared chemical arsenals have been destroyed under OPCW verification – an unprecedented achievement in the annals of disarmament. For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Prize for Peace.
