OSLO, Norway, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Monday its director general arrived in Oslo to accept the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu led the delegation to Oslo to receive the prize during a ceremony scheduled Tuesday.
The OPCW is mandated through a joint mission with the United Nations to facilitate the destruction of Syria's declared chemical weapons stockpiles.
The Nobel Committee awarded the prize to the OPCW for its effort to define chemical weapons as a taboo under international law. Conflict in Syria involving the use of illicit weapons gave the OPCW greater importance, the committee said in October.
Uzumcu was appointed to a second term as OPCW director general last week. In a statement accepting the appointment, he said the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the OPCW was a testament of a "historical" year for a mission tasked with eliminating Syria's chemical weapons during one of the most brutal conflicts of the 21st century.
The OPCW said declared chemical substances and chemical weapons precursors should be out of Syria no later than Feb. 5.
Last week, the organization said all of the so-called Category 3, or unfilled, munitions were eliminated from Syria.
