Iranian scientist receives OPCW-The Hague Award

At a ceremony held in Hague yesterday, Iranian scientist Dr Mahdi Balali-Mood received the second annual OPCW-The Hague Award, for his outstanding contribution to achieving a world free of chemical weapons.

According to the OPCW website, Dr Mahdi Balali of Iran and Dr Alastair Hay of the United Kingdom were honored at the Headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Award, created by the OPCW as an outcome of its winning of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, is intended to honor and recognize individuals and non-profit, non-governmental organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to achieving a world free of chemical weapons.

OPCW-The Hague Award

Last month, the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, H.E. Ahmet Üzümcü, announced the decision of the OPCW-The Hague Award Committee to honor Dr. Mahdi Balali-Mood and Dr. Alastair Hay as the joint recipients of the second annual OPCW-The Hague Award.

Dr. Balali-Mood, an Iranian national, is an expert toxicologist who has dedicated his career to the treatment of victims of chemical warfare agents. He has been a ceaseless educator on the medical aspects of chemical weapons, working closely with the WHO and OPCW to advocate for victims and to develop international guidelines for response to the use of chemical warfare agents.

Dr. Mahdi Balali-Mood (Photo credit: Mehr news)

Granting this award to Dr. Balali-Mood shows the international acknowledgement of Iran’s peaceful stance and its constructive and leading positions in implementing Chemical Weapons Convention on a national and international scale.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organization, located in Hague, Netherlands. The organization promotes and verifies the adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention which prohibits the use of chemical weapons and requires their destruction. The verification consists both of evaluation of declarations by member states and on-site inspections.

Mehr News contributed to this report

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