Costa Rican permanent representative to the UN Elayne Whyte Gómez and diplomats from the disarmament delegations of Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Africa, received the “2017 Arms Control Person (s) of the Year” award in recognition of their efforts to secure the historic 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

The recognition was awarded based on the votes of more than 2500 individuals from over 90 countries, the highest number of votes from the wideset range of countries in the 10-year history of the contest, who voted on an online poll.

In total nine individuals and delegations were nominated by the staff and board of the Arms Control Association (ACA) “for their leadership in advancing effective arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament solutions or for raising awareness of the threats posed by mass casualty weapons during the course of 2017”;

“I receive this recognition in name of all Costa Ricans who give life every day to the ideals of our ancestors that built a land of peace, a democracy without army that is a lighthouse in the world”, stated Ambassador Whyte

The diplomats leading the disarmament delegations from Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Africa were part of the “core group” of states who, along with the president of the negotiating conference, Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez of Costa Rica, played a central role in the multilateral talks on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The negotiations were brought to a successful conclusion in July and the treaty was opened for signature in September.

“In a year marked by rising tensions between the world’s nuclear-armed states, the negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons stands out as a historic achievement,” noted Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

“The strong affirmative vote for the disarmament teams from Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Africa, and Ambassador Whyte Gómez, reflects their pivotal role in the negotiation of the treaty and the pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons,” Kimball said.

Runners-up included Toby Walsh of the University of New South Wales and a group of more than 137 founders and directors of over 100 robotics and artificial intelligence companies. They were nominated for their influential open letter warning of the dangers posed by uncontrolled development of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) and Pope Francis for his declaration that the possession of nuclear weapons is immoral completing the Catholic Church’s shift away from conditional acceptance of nuclear deterrence, and for his call for a more inclusive and effective process to advance disarmament