The Arms Control Association is dedicated to providing authoritative information and promoting practical solutions to address the dangers posed by the world's most dangerous weapons: nuclear, biological, and chemical, as well as certain types of conventional arms.
Every year since 2007, Arms Control Association's staff has nominated several individuals and institutions that best exemplify leadership and action in pursuing effective arms control solutions.
Each, in their own way, has provided leadership to help reduce weapons-related security threats. We invite you to cast your vote (one per person) for the 2014 Arms Control Person(s) of the Year.
Click here to vote and enter "ACPOY2014" as the password. The vote will beclosed at midnight on January 7 and the results announced January 9.
The nominees are:
- The members of the technical and political negotiating teams of Iran, the United States, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, and China for making significant progress toward developing long-term, compromise solutions to address concerns about Iran's sensitive nuclear fuel cycle activities, facilities, and uranium stockpiles as part a future, comprehensive nuclear agreement.
- Ahmet Üzümcü, Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and Sigrid Kaag, head of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission, for successfully overseeing the elimination of Syria's 1300 metric tons of chemical weapons, constituting a major advance toward achieving a world-wide ban on chemical weapons. The operation--involving personnel, equipment, and resources from the United States, Russia, and 28 other countries--demonstrated the ability of the international community to work collaboratively to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.
- The members of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection teams for their more intensive, on-the-ground work to verify Iran's compliance with the November 2013 Joint Plan of Action, which put into place interim confidence-building steps that have halted the progress of the elements of Iran's nuclear program of greatest proliferation concern.
- Ambassador Alexander Kmentt, Austria's Director for Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament for organizing the 3rd International Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, Dec. 8-9, 2014 in Vienna, which brought together 158 governmental delegations, including representatives from India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States, and for Austria's pledge "... to cooperate with all relevant stakeholders ... in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons in light of their unacceptable humanitarian consequences and associated risks."
- Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for his advocacy for mine removal, an end to the production of banned antipersonnel mines, and the universalization of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Leahy was instrumental in pressing the Barack Obama administration to announce adjustments in U.S. mine ban policy earlier this year. Leahy has also been a staunch supporter of victim assistance programs. As a result of the treaty and global mine removal efforts, significantly lower numbers of deaths and injuries from land mines and other explosive remnants of war were reported in the past year.
- Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for her legislative efforts to curb excessive federal spending on nuclear weapons programs she believes exceed U.S. defense requirements and press the Obama administration to accelerate progress to eliminate excess nuclear warheads and secure dangerous nuclear and radiological materials. In 2014, the appropriations subcommittee she chairs zeroed out research funding for a new nuclear-armed, air-launched cruise missile and she publicly pressed the White House to make policy changes to reduce excess "hedge" weapons in the U.S nuclear arsenal. She helped lead a bipartisan effort to increase funding for programs to secure and eliminate dangerous nuclear and radiological materials.
- Human Rights Watch for conducting field research in conflict zones to document the use of weapons that violate international norms. Their reports help bring international attention to the use of incendiary munitions in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and in Syria and the use of chemical weapons (chlorine in barrel bombs) in Syria.
- The Netherlands Nuclear Security Summit 'Sherpa,' Ambassdor Piet de Klerk, who was his country's lead coordinator and negotiator for the March 24-25, 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague. The Summit produced a consensus communique and a number of multilateral initiatives to strengthen the security of vulnerable nuclear materials.
- Pope Francis for guiding the Catholic Church to revise its position on the morality of nuclear deterrence for the first time in many years. The Holy See document "Nuclear Disarmament: Time for Abolition" argues that: "The strategic nuclear situation has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War. Rather than providing security...reliance on a strategy of nuclear deterrence has created a less secure world."
- C. J. Chivers, reporter for The New York Times, for his groundbreaking investigative reports documenting the previously unacknowledged exposure of U.S. troops in Iraq to remnants of Saddam's pre-1991 chemical weapons arsenal and for revealing the improper, secret, open-air disposal methods used by U.S. forces from 2004-2009.
Click here to vote and enter "ACPOY2014" as the password.
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Past winners of the "Arms Control Person of the Year" are: Lassina Zerbo (2013); Gen. James Cartwright (2012); reporter and activist Kathi Lynn Austin (2011),Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov and Thomas D'Agostino, U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator (2010); Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) (2009 ), Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and his ministry's Director-General for Security Policy and the High North Steffen Kongstad (2008), and U.S.Congressmen Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and David Hobson (R-Ohio) (2007).
If you find the Arms Control Association's resources and work of value, please consider making a contribution online right now, or by giving a friend or colleague a gift subscription to Arms Control Today this holiday season.
Our continued efforts-and progress on arms control in the years ahead- depend on the support of individuals like you.
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The Arms Control Association (ACA) is an independent, membership-based organization dedicated to providing information and practical policy solutions to address the dangers posed by the world's most dangerous weapons. ACA publishes the monthly journal, Arms Control Today.