Control Arms has been nominated for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize by the International Peace Bureau (IPB), itself a Nobel Laureate.
“It’s an honor to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. We hope this nomination will draw attention to the deadline this year to negotiate a strong Arms Trade Treaty to ban irresponsible arms transfers and save lives. Concluding a strong treaty in July will be a crucial step towards a safer world.
We are deeply thankful for the support and acknowledgement of the International Peace Bureau, an organization with a distinguished record of working for a world without war.”
– Jeff Abramson, coordinator of the Control Arms secretariat
Control Arms is a global civil society alliance established in 2003 to advocate for a strong Arms Trade Treaty.
The nomination is itself symbolic, as the original push for an Arms Trade Treaty came partially from a group of Nobel Peace prize Laureates, led by Dr. Oscar Arias of Costa Rica. Dr. Arias will attend a UN conference on the Arms Trade Treaty next week. He and other Laureates, such as Amnesty International (1977) and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985) and the Albert Schweitzer Institute (Dr. Schweitzer was awarded the prize in 1952), will participate in a special event on February 14th calling for a robust and effective Treaty.
As IPB noted in its announcement,
“Talks and negotiations on this topic have been proceeding at the UN for several years, and there is every hope that a successful outcome will be achieved at the conference in July. IPB is convinced that the award of the Peace Prize to Control Arms would be entirely in conformity with the terms of Alfred Nobel’s will.”
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