Nobel win hailed for little-known chemical weapons watchdog

The international community on Friday hailed the OPCW's Nobel Peace Prize win as much-deserved recognition for a group that has worked behind the scenes to rid the world of chemical weapons.

Previously little-known, the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons emerged from the shadows in recent months as its inspectors were called in to verify Syria's claims of destroying its chemical arsenal.

The head of the UN weapons inspection team working with the OPCW in Syria said the prize would help boost the group's efforts to enforce bans on chemical arms and dismantle existing stockpiles.

"It's really great," Ake Sellstrom told Swedish public broadcaster SVT. "This is a powerful pat on the back that will strengthen the organisation's work in Syria."

"I'm proud of him and the organisation," the wife of one of the group's inspectors in Syria told AFP in The Hague, asking not to be named.

But underlining the risks the inspectors face, she added: "I guess it's a time for celebration but he's in Damascus so it's not easy to celebrate."

Congratulations for the OPCW poured in from European capitals, with European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso calling the award "a powerful recognition of the important role of the OPCW in curbing the use of chemical weapons."

He promised the EU, which provides crucial funding to the OPCW, would continue to support the group as it "faces an unprecedented challenge in its current effort in Syria."

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the OPCW's work was "invaluable for all of us as our shared aim is a chemical weapons free world."

He said the August 21 chemical attack near Damascus that left hundreds dead and prompted the OPCW's involvement in the country was a reminder of the "abhorrent effects of chemical weapons".

"The work currently conducted by the OPCW in Syria is of paramount importance," Van Rompuy said. "And with potentially even greater significance, this will hopefully set a new standard for the international community in responding to threats posed by weapons of mass destruction."

In Paris, President Francois Hollande said the OPCW's win was a show of support for international efforts to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

"The Nobel prize is a vindication of all that France, and not just France, committed in the last few weeks to denouncing the use of chemical weapons and to eliminating them in the near future," Hollande told journalists.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called the prize a "well-deserved reward" for the OPCW's "long work and courageous commitment to disarmament."

"This Nobel Peace Prize will give new momentum to global disarmament," he said, promising that Berlin would continue to support the group.

As well as the group itself, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the OPCW's individual workers, saying: "The commitment of this organisation's staff is worthy of our respect... This Nobel Peace Prize is for each of these employees."

In Geneva, UN spokeswoman Corinne Momal-Vanian said the award was especially relevant given "the work that the OPCW experts are doing right now in Syria in very, very difficult conditions."

There were some notes of caution however, with rights group Amnesty International urging foreign powers to not focus exclusively on chemical weapons in Syria.

"The recent deal in Syria was of course a positive step to remove banned chemical weapons from the battlefield, but we can't lose sight of the enormity of the human rights crisis in the country," Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a statement.

"Today's announcement must spur the international community to put an end to the mass violations in Syria and to address accountability for war crimes being committed by all sides of the conflict."

Yemeni journalist and activist Tawakkol Karman, a 2011 Nobel Peace laureate, was among many who had been rooting for Pakistani teen and education icon Malala Yousafzai to take the prize.

But Karman congratulated the OPCW and said she expected Malala to some day win the award.

"I was hoping that Malala Yousafzai would win it. But I expect that she will win this important prize in the coming years," Karman told AFP in Paris.

"She deserves it... Malala is our hero, is the hero of women, of the people who want this world to be better with a good education, with strong women."