World Food Programme awarded 2020 Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO: The United Nations food agency, World Food Programme (WFP), won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger.

The prize is worth ten million Swedish crowns, or around $1.1 million, and will be presented in Oslo on December 10. The World Food Programme (WFP) has been awarded for its “efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger and promoting food security. In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger.

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In 2015, eradicating hunger was adopted as one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The WFP is the UN’s primary instrument for realising this goal. In recent years, the situation has taken a negative turn. In 2019, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger, the highest number in many years. Most of the increase was caused by war and armed conflict.

The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world and has led to a dramatic rise in the number of people living on the brink of starvation. In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts.

According to the Nobel Committee, the world is in danger of experiencing a hunger crisis of inconceivable proportions if the World Food Programme and other food assistance organisations do not receive the financial support they have requested.

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The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasised that providing assistance to increase food security not only prevents hunger but can also help to improve prospects for stability and peace. The World Food Programme has taken the lead in combining humanitarian work with peace efforts through pioneering projects in South America, Africa and Asia.

The World Food Programme plays a key role in multilateral cooperation on making food security an instrument of peace and has made a strong contribution towards mobilising UN member states to combat the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.