Today’s awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is well-deserved, and should spur the international community to take action after the recent chemical attacks in Syria.
The award also brings to mind Iraq's chemical attacks against the Kurds, launched almost 25 years ago. Iraqi official Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka “Chemical Ali” believed he would never be held accountable for his role, saying: “Who is going to say anything? The international community? Fuck them! The international community, and those who listen to them!”
Immediate action against chemical weapons can be taken by many countries.Muammar Gaddafi’s intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi will be able to face trial in Libya as opposed to in The Hague, the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled today. If Libya does try him, the country needs to respect his rights.
What news was hot at Human Rights Watch this week?
It’s the Day of the Girl – what did Alice Munro, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature this week, have to say about girls in her short story “Boys and Girls”?
The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The announcement sparked off a wave of social media fervor... Many had thought that education campaigner Malala Yousufzai would win. Some noted the OPCW was an odd choice in a year when chemical weapons were used on a massive scale for the first time in decades. Others felt the decision could give additional backing to the effort to achieve accountability for those attacks and other crimes in Syria through a referral of the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Still others pointed out the countries that have yet to sign or ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention. And others remembered a past winner who remains behind bars...
