The 101st winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The agency was awarded for fighting world hunger and improving conditions for peace. They received a gold medal of honor and $1.1 million (£875,000), all of which will go back into helping people around the world.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, The Nobel Committee Chairwoman, told a news conference in Oslo:
[With this year’s, award the committee wanted to] turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger.
It was chosen out of 318 nominees – 107 organizations and 211 individuals.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee added:
[The WFP was declared the winner of the prestigious award] 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 WFP plays a key role in multilateral co-operation on making food security an instrument of peace.
The WFP said it was “deeply humbled” to have won.
A shocked WFP head David Beasley told the BBC’s Newshour:
I was literally for the first time in my life without words. I was just so shocked and surprised. To receive this award is a recognition to the men and women at the World Food Programme who put their lives on the line every day for the struggling, suffering people around the world. So, I hope this is a signal and a message that the World Food Programme is a role model and that we all have got to do more.
Mr. Beasley, nominated in 2017 by Donald Trump to head the WFP, said it’s all thanks to the organization’s “family.” He praised them, saying:
Talk about the most exciting point in time in your life; it’s the Nobel Peace Prize. And it’s because of the WFP family. They’re out there in the most difficult, complex places in the world, where there’s war, conflict, climate extremes. They deserve this award. And wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Two things. I can’t believe I’m in Niger when we got the award, and number two, I didn’t win it; you won it.
The organization was further recognized for its work during the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused world hunger to surge due to economic woes. The Nobel Committee wrote in a statement:
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. However, the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of hunger victims in the world. In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts.
The UN agency delivers food assistance worldwide. It helps around 97 million starving people in approximately 88 countries each year. It says that one in nine people globally still doesn’t have enough to eat.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated the group saying:
If there is a deserving organization, then this is certainly one of them. The people there do incredible work helping others, and therefore I am very pleased about the awarding of this Nobel Peace Prize.
The award is one of the most prestigious in the world. Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel started it in 1901, and ever since, it has been awarded yearly to whoever confers the most significant benefit to humankind that year.
This year, the Nobel Committee awarded it to WFP and called on governments worldwide to support the organization with financial aid to ensure it can continue its humble work. Any assistance will help the WFP feed more people suffering from food shortages in war-ridden countries like Congo, Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso.
Furthermore, Mr. Beasley warned the UN Security Council that climate change worsens the hunger crisis as it interferes with the growing of crops. He said that the world is “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could result in “multiple famines of biblical proportions” if we don’t take action now to stop global warming.
