World Food Programme wins Nobel peace prize
Founded in 1961, the UN organisation helped 97 million people in 2019 by distributing 15 billion rations to 88 countries.
In this May 2, 2018 file photo, a woman scoops fallen sorghum grain off the ground after an aerial food drop by the World Food Programme in the town of Kandak, South Sudan.
The World Food Programme has won the Nobel Peace Prize 2020 for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe.
“I think this is the first time in my life I've been without words. I was just so shocked and surprised," UN's WFP head David Beasley said, speaking from Niger, after the AP gave him the news.
The announcement was made in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Nobel Committee on Friday.
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The @WFP has been awarded the 2020 #NobelPeacePrize 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 Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2020
Hunger during pandemic
The Nobel Committee said that the coronavirus pandemic has added to the hunger faced by millions of people around the world and called on governments to ensure that WFP and other aid organisations receive the financial support necessary to feed them.
“With this year’s award, the (committee) wishes to turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger,” Reiss-Andersen said.
“The World Food Programme plays a key role in multilateral cooperation in making food security an instrument of peace.
It's hard to make @WFPChief speechless, but it's how we're all feeling right now! Thank you @NobelPrize for this recognition of our work and for this incredible honour. #NobelPeacePrize https://t.co/W7tvPqOJzM
— World Food Programme (@WFP) October 9, 2020
The World Food Programme contributes daily to advancing the fraternity of nations mentioned in Alfred Nobel’s will,” she said.
There was no shortage of causes or candidates on this year’s list, with 211 individuals and 107 organisations nominated ahead of the February 1 deadline.
However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee maintains absolute secrecy about whom it favours for arguably the world’s most prestigious prize.
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Monetary award
The award comes with $1.1 million ( 10-million krona) cash prize and a gold medal to be handed out at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death. This year’s ceremony will be scaled down due to the pandemic.
On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize for physiology and medicine for discovering the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus. Tuesday’s prize for physics honoured breakthroughs in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes, and the chemistry prize on Wednesday went to scientists behind a powerful gene-editing tool. The literature prize was awarded to American poet Louise Glück on Thursday for her “candid and uncompromising” work.
Still to come next week is the prize for outstanding work in the field of economics.
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