Latin American and Caribbean Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone Takes Top Disarmament Award – Argentina, New Zealand Win Silver

The “Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Treaty of Tlatelolco) was today proclaimed winner of the 2013 Future Policy Award for sustainable disarmament, beating 24 other nominated policies to the prize.  The award will be presented at a ceremony this evening at United Nations Headquarters by the World Future Council, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)

Silver awards were granted to Argentina’s “National Programme for the Voluntary Surrender of Firearms” and New Zealand’s “Nuclear-Free Zone, Arms Control, and Disarmament Act” while four additional disarmament policies from Belgium, Costa Rica, Mongolia and Mozambique/South Africa were recognized as Honourable Mentions. (Read full Press Release here) [source: UNODA]