MONITORING (SW) – The World Food Program has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize 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.
Afghanistan’s female politician Fawzia Kofi was one of the nominee. She has congratulated the WFP the honor of winning this prestigious award.
“I congratulate @WFP I congratulate @WFP very well deserved. The recognition up to here is a huge tribute to the women of Afghanistan for their peace loving efforts. We will not give up! “, she tweeted.
The World Food Program is the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger. In 2015, eradicating hunger was adopted as one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The WFP is the UN’s primary instrument for realizing this goal.
In recent years, the situation has taken a negative turn. 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.
According to a statement issued by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world. In countries such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the combination of violent conflict and the pandemic has led to a dramatic rise in the number of people living on the brink of starvation.
In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Program has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts, it added.
As the organization itself has stated, “Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos.”
The world is in danger of experiencing a hunger crisis of inconceivable proportions if the World Food Program and other food assistance organizations do not receive the financial support they have requested.
The link between hunger and armed conflict is a vicious circle: war and conflict can cause food insecurity and hunger, just as hunger and food insecurity can cause latent conflicts to flare up and trigger the use of violence. We will never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee wished to emphasize that providing assistance to increase food security not only prevents hunger, but can also help to improve prospects for stability and peace. The World Food Program has taken the lead in combining humanitarian work with peace efforts through pioneering projects in South America, Africa and Asia.
With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger. The World Food Program plays a key role in multilateral cooperation on making food security an instrument of peace, and has made a strong contribution towards mobilizing UN Member States to combat the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. The organization contributes daily to advancing the fraternity of nations referred to in Alfred Nobel’s will. As the UN’s largest specialized agency, the World Food Program is a modern version of the peace congresses that the Nobel Peace Prize is intended to promote.
The work of the World Food Program to the benefit of humankind is an endeavor that all the nations of the world should be able to endorse and support.
ENDS
