Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (NOBEL Laureate - Dec. 10, 2013) -- Acceptance speech and Invitation to Israel, Egypt, N. Korea, and other outliers

from Online posted article in Christian Science Monitor (CS Monitor dot-com) -- Dec. 10, 2013 -- Nobel Peace laureate urges holdouts to join chemical weapons pact The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which received the prize, called Tuesday for Israel, North Korea, Egypt, and three others to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention. By Valeria Criscione, Correspondent CS MONITOR dot-com / December 10, 2013 The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway today, appealed to the remaining six countries outside the Chemical Weapons Convention to join the organization's quest to rid the world of chemical weapons. OPCW director general Ahmet Üzümcü said that there was no longer any “reasonable defense” for Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, and South Sudan not to ratify the convention after the recent international reaction to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. “It is my fervent hope that this award will spur on efforts to make the Chemical Weapons Convention a truly universal norm,” Mr. Üzümcü told the hundreds of Nobel Lecture attendees at Oslo City Hall. “We cannot allow the tragedy that befell the people of Ghouta [site of the Aug. 21 chemical attack in Syria] to be repeated.” This summer’s chemical attacks in Syria, where several hundred were killed, sparked widespread international outrage, spurring the Norwegian Nobel Committee in October to select the organization for the Nobel Peace Prize for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.______________ Üzümcü pointed in particular to the security advantages he said the current 190 member states enjoyed. In the 16 years that the Convention has been in force, no member state has experienced an attack with chemical weapons. During that time, 80 percent of the world's chemical weapons have been removed and 90 percent of production capacity destroyed. “No national interest can credibly outweigh either the security or economic benefits of adhering to the global chemical ban,” he said. His appeal was reinforced by Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman, Thorbjørn Jagland, who criticized the US and Russia for not having met the April 2012 deadline for the destruction of their declared weapons. The two countries account for the majority of the 20 percent of the world's weapons not yet destroyed. “It is of course not acceptable that two leading powers, themselves so eager to see others destroying their stores as quickly as possible, have not yet themselves managed to do the same,” Mr. Jagland said.