The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is overseeing the destruction's of Syria's arsenal, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (October 11), the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced.

Experts from the Hague-based global chemical weapons watchdog, supported by the United Nations, are working to destroy Syria's massive chemical weapons stockpile after a sarin gas strike in the suburbs of Damascus killed more than 1,400 people in August.

In announcing this year's winner the Chairman of the Nobel Committee said the OPCW has not been given the prize just for its involvement in Syria, but for its work over a number of years.

The award marks a return to the classical disarmament roots of the prize after some recent awards, such as to the European Union last year and U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009.

Those awards led to criticism that the committee was out of line with the spirit of the prize, founded by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.

His 1895 will says the prize should go to one of three causes - "fraternity between nations", the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.

Presented by Adam Justice

Read more: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/organisaion-prohibition-chemical-weapons-opcw-nobel-peace-513197