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, ACA'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 2013 Arms Control Person(s) of the Year.
Click here to vote and enter "aca2013" as the password. The vote will be closed at midnight on January 7 and the results announced January 9.
The nominees are:
- EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for leading their respective diplomatic teams to reach the November 24 framework agreement and first-phase confidence-building steps that open the way for negotiations on a comprehensive final-phase agreement to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear program.
- Foreign Minister Enrique Castillo of Costa Rica and the foreign ministers of 63 other states for their co-sponsorship of the resolution presenting the Arms Trade Treaty for approval by the UN General Assembly in April, which was necessary to overcome the opposition of Iran, Syria, and North Korea to the treaty and opened the way for signature of the treaty in June.
- Ake Sellstrom and his UN investigation team for their reports on the August 21 chemical attack outside Damascus and other chemical weapons attacks, which documented that rockets armed with sarin nerve gas were used to kill more than 1,000 people, prompting actions leading to the removal of Syria's chemical arsenal under supervision of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
- Sigrid Kaag, Special Coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission on eliminating Syria's chemical weapons program and her team, for their work to verify the accuracy of Syria's declaration of its arsenal and oversee the destruction of its weaponization and production equipment and the removal of the remaining bulk and precursor chemical agents from Syria for verified neutralization outside of Syria.
- CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo for helping to persuade China to provide data from its International Monitoring System stations to the International Data Centre in Vienna and for providing real-time data regarding North Korea's third nuclear test explosion.
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel for the March 15 decision to cancel Phase IV of the European Phased Adaptive Approach to missile defense in Europe and to deploy 14 more ground-based mid-course interceptors in Alaska, which simultaneously removed a potential obstacle to further U.S.-Russian strategic nuclear arms reductions and reassured allies in Asia regarding North Korea.
- Amb. Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel, Permanent Representative of France to the Conference on Disarmament, for his leadership in starting a discussion among the states-parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons on the issues raised by lethal autonomous weapons systems.
- Former Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide of Norway for hosting an international conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons in March 2013 in Oslo and Amb. Abdul Minty of South Africa for coordinating a statement (now endorsed by 125 governments) that declares: "It is in the interest of the very survival of humanity that nuclear weapons are never used again, under any circumstances."
Click here to vote and enter "aca2013" as the password.
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Past winners of the "Arms Control Person of the Year" are: 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.