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The United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which provides life-saving food assistance to millions of people around the world, often in extremely dangerous and difficult-to-access conditions, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2020.
The agency was recognized “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to improving peace conditions in conflict-affected areas, and for acting as an engine to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict,” said Berit Reiss. . -Andersen, president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization. Last year, it helped 97 million people in 88 countries.
Its efforts focus on emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation, development aid and special operations. Two-thirds of the work is done in conflict-affected countries, where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those in conflict-free countries.
Global food insecurity aggravated by COVID-19
In praising the work of the UN agency, the chairman of the Nobel Committee highlighted its role in promoting resilience and sustainability among communities by helping them feed themselves.
The COVID-19 crisis has also added to global food insecurity, he added, noting that there will likely be 265 million “hungry people in one year.”
Only the international community can address that challenge, he insisted, before highlighting the fact that WFP had helped millions of people in extremely dangerous and hard-to-reach countries affected by conflict and natural disasters, including Yemen, Syria and the Democratic People’s Republic. . from Korea.
‘A humble and moving recognition’
The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s announcement “put the global spotlight” on the 690 million hungry people around the world, David Beasley, WFP’s executive director, said after the announcement.
“Each one of [them] he has the right to live in peace and without hunger, “he said, adding that climate crises and economic pressures have further aggravated his plight.
“And now, a global pandemic with its brutal impact on economies and communities is pushing millions more to the brink of starvation.”
Mr. Beasley highlighted that the Nobel Peace Prize was not just from WFP, noting that the UN agency works closely with government, organizations and private sector partners whose passion for helping the hungry and vulnerable is equal to ours.
“We couldn’t help anyone without them. We are an operational agency and our staff’s daily work is driven by our core values of integrity, humanity and inclusion.”
The WHP chief added that the award was a “moving and moving recognition.”
“The Nobel Peace Prize … is a humble and moving recognition of the work of WFP staff who risk their lives every day to bring food and assistance to the nearly 100 million hungry children, women and men throughout the world, “he said,” people whose lives are often brutally shattered by instability, insecurity and conflict. “
Based in Rome, the PMA was established in 1961.
With this recognition, WFP joins the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Maintenance of the Peace of the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), former Secretary Generals Dag Hammarskjöld and Kofi Annan, and former Assistant Secretary General Ralph Bunche; and the UN itself as Nobel Peace Prize winners.
