Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of ICAN, and Ambassador Luiz Filipe de Macedo Soares, Secretary-General of OPANAL, at the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly - First Committee
The Secretariat of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) congratulates the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) on receiving the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
ICAN is a coalition of civil society organizations in more than 100 countries. ICAN's mission is to advocate for a strong and effective nuclear weapon ban treaty.
The Nobel Committee decided to award ICAN with the Nobel Peace Prize for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve the treaty banning nuclear weapons, concluded on 7 July 2017 at the United Nations.
The Secretariat of OPANAL believes that the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize is well deserved for ICAN and represents an opportunity to continue to push forward the efforts of the international community towards the total ban and elimination of nuclear weapons, a commitment that was reflected in the first resolution adopted in history by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
In 1982, Mexican Ambassador Alfonso García Robles, President of the negotiations of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the establishment of the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone of Latin America and the Caribbean, for which OPANAL is responsible to ensure compliance.