The World Food Program received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
Oslo:
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Program on Friday for feeding millions of people from Yemen to North Korea, and the coronavirus pandemic pushed millions more into hunger.
WFP was honored for “its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to improving peace conditions 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” Nobel committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said when revealing the winner in Oslo.
Whether delivering food by helicopter or on the back of an elephant or camel, WFP prides itself on being “the leading humanitarian organization” in a world where, according to its own estimates, some 690 million people go, one in 11 to bed on an empty stomach.
“With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer or face the threat of hunger,” said Reiss-Andersen.
Founded in 1961, the UN organization helped 97 million people last year, distributing 15 billion rations to people in 88 countries last year.
The numbers are dizzying, but only a fraction of the total number of those in need.
Despite progress over the past three decades, the UN goal of eradicating hunger by 2030 appears out of reach if current trends continue, experts say.
Women and children are often the most at risk.
War can be caused by hunger, but hunger is also a consequence of war, and people living in conflict areas are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in peaceful countries, says the WFP.
“There are no two ways to do it: we cannot end hunger unless we end the conflict,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said on 21 September.
Famines of Biblical Proportions
Yemen, which is going through what the UN has described as the “world’s greatest humanitarian crisis”, is a clear example of this.
Both the UN and aid agencies have repeatedly raised the alarm about the disastrous consequences of the conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2015, when a powerful military coalition led by Saudi Arabia joined the government’s fight against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
The conflict has displaced three million people and brought the country to the brink of famine.
Two-thirds of Yemen’s 30 million people don’t know where their next meal will come from, WFP figures show.
The outlook for the world has become even gloomier this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to lost profits, higher food prices and disrupted supply chains.
“The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a sharp increase in the number of victims of hunger in the world,” the Nobel committee said.
“In countries such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the combination of violent conflict and pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in the number of people living on the brink of starvation,” he said. .
In April, Beasley raised the alarm, saying, “We could face multiple famines of biblical proportions in a few months.”
The global recession caused by the virus runs the risk of starving another 83 to 132 million people, the UN said in a report released in mid-July.
This is the twelfth time that the Peace Prize has been awarded to the UN, one of its agencies or personalities, more than any other recipient.
The virus will also affect the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony on December 10 in Oslo, which has been scaled down due to crown restrictions.
The award consists of a gold medal, a diploma and a check for SEK 10 million (€ 950,000, $ 1.1 million).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
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