The United Nations food agency won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The United Nations’ food agency, the World Food Program (WFP), won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to combat hunger and improve peace conditions in conflict-affected areas.
The Rome-based organization says it helps some 97 million people in about 88 countries each year, and that one in nine people worldwide still doesn’t have enough to eat.
“The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more apparent than ever,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told a news conference.
WFP is a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which according to the WFP could double hunger worldwide, has made it even more relevant, He said.
“The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a sharp increase in the number of victims of hunger in the world,” the Nobel committee said at their appointment.
“Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos …
“There is an estimate within the World Food Program that … there will be 265 million hungry people in a year, so of course this is also a call to the international community not to underfund the Program. World Food “.
“Beyond Call of Duty”
WFP responded by tweeting its thanks for “recognition of the work of WFP staff who risk their lives every day to bring food and assistance to more than 100 million hungry children, women and men around the world.”
At a briefing in Geneva, WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri told reporters: “For WFP this year we have exceeded the call of duty …
“Everything came to a standstill due to national and global restrictions that followed COVID-19. The WFP took the lead, we were able to connect communities. At one time, we were the world’s largest airline when most, if not all, commercial airlines ground to stop “.
Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee had wanted to send a message of hope and “support for international cooperation.”
“Hunger, like climate change, pandemic and other problems, is a global problem that can only be adequately addressed through cooperation. The World Food Program is an institution of global cooperation,” he told Reuters.
“Unfortunately, in too many sectors, especially among the great powers, there is a diminishing appetite for cooperation,” he said, adding that world hunger was on the rise again, having decreased for several decades until 2016.
The award is worth SEK 10 million, or about $ 1.1 million, and will be presented in Oslo on December 10.
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