14 DAY TRIAL // An inter-state organization preventing the use of chemical weapons has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace this year.
According to CBC, the current mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is destroying chemical weaponry in Syria.
"The conventions and the work of the OPCW have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law," a spokesperson for the Norwegian Nobel Committee has stated.
The latest gas attack in Syria, on Aug. 21 has left 355 to 1,429 people dead in Damascus, most of them civilians. A considerable part of the fatalities is represented by children.
"Recent 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.
"By means of the present award to the OPCW, the committee is seeking to contribute to the elimination of chemical weapons," the Nobel statement reads.
The award was given out this morning in Oslo to the 189-member organization. This is the 22nd time that an organization has won the prize.
Last year's winner was the European Union, and the list of previous holders of the title includes the Red Cross and the United Nations.
A ruling at the 1925 Geneva Convention has already banned the use of chemical weapons, but their manufacture and storage are not outlawed. That means that countries can still stockpile sarin, mustard gas and VX, main components in lethal gas weapons.
One of the candidates to the Nobel peace prize has been a Pakistani teenager surviving a Taliban attack over a blog about the freedom of education.
Malala Yousafzai wrote posts about girls in her village being denied attending school. She is this year's recipient of the Sakharov Prize for protecting human rights and the freedom of expression.