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 fight hunger and improve conditions of peace in conflict-affected areas.
The Rome-based organization says it helps some 97 million people in around 88 countries each year and that one in nine people worldwide still do not have enough to eat.
“The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more evident than ever,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said at a press 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 WFP says could double world hunger, has made even more relevant, she said.
“The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a sharp increase in the number of hungry people around the world,” the Nobel committee said in its quote.
“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 within a year, so of course this is also a call to the international community not to underfund the World Food Program. “
“Above and above the call of duty”
WFP responded by tweeting its thanks for “recognition of the work of WFP staff who put their lives at risk every day to provide food and assistance to over 100 million starving children, women and men. in the world“.
At a briefing in Geneva, WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri told reporters: “For WFP this year, we have gone beyond the call of duty …
“Everything has been stopped following national and global restrictions in the aftermath of COVID-19. WFP intervened, we were able to connect the communities. At one point, we were the largest airline in the world when most if not all commercial airlines had ground to stop. “
Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee wanted to send a message of both hope and “support for international cooperation.”
“Hunger, like climate change, pandemic and other issues, is a global problem that can only be properly addressed through cooperation. The World Food Program is an institution of global cooperation,” he said. to Reuters.
“Unfortunately, in too many quarters, especially among the great powers, the appetite for cooperation is diminishing,” he said, adding that world hunger was on the rise again, after declining for several decades until ‘in 2016.
The prize is worth SEK 10 million, or roughly $ 1.1 million, and will be presented in Oslo on December 10.
