Albany Times Union

World Food Program gets Nobel Peace Prize

United Nations agency started by Eisenhower in ’61

- By Dalatou Mamane, Frank Jordans and Vanessa Gera

The World Food Program won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for fighting hunger and seeking to end its use as “a weapon of war and conflict” at a time when the coronaviru­s pandemic has driven millions more people to the brink of starvation.

Announcing the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it wished “to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger.”

The committee also said it hoped that bestowing the prize on the U.N. agency would highlight the need to strengthen global solidarity and cooperatio­n in an era of go-it-alone nationalis­m.

“We are sending a signal to every nation who raises objections to internatio­nal cooperatio­n,” committee chair Berit Reiss-andersen said. “We are sending a signal to this type of nationalis­m where the responsibi­lity for global affairs is not being faced.”

The Rome-based agency was establishe­d in 1961 at the behest of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and has brought aid to multiple crises. It continues to bring assistance to the world’s most dangerous and precarious places, from air-dropping food in South Sudan and Syria to creating an emergency delivery service that kept aid flowing even as pandemic restrictio­ns grounded commercial flights.

In bestowing what is arguably the world’s most prestigiou­s prize on the World Food Program, the Norwegian committee is honoring an organizati­on headed by David Beasley, a Republican former South Carolina governor nominated for the job by President Donald Trump.

Beasley said the prize goes to his entire team.

“I know I’m not deserving of an award like this — but all the men and women around the world in the World Food Program and our partners who put their lives on the line every day to help those in need, that is inspiring and encouragin­g,” he told The Associated Press by phone from Niger.

WFP staffers in Niger greeted Beasley with cheers and applause as he emerged to address a crowd after the announceme­nt. “I didn’t win it, you won it,” he told them.

The award comes as Trump has pulled the United States out of several U.N. bodies. He has also repeatedly criticized the U.N.’S World Health Organizati­on over its handling of the coronaviru­s pandemic, and his administra­tion has said the United States will leave it in July.

In light of that pullback, the choice of the World Food Program was notable because the U.S. remains by far its biggest donor, the agency has been run by an American for nearly 40 years, and Beasley has been a rare recent example of U.s.-led internatio­nalism.

WFP estimates that 690 million people worldwide suffer some form of hunger today.

 ?? Tsvangiray­i Mukwazhi / Associated Press file ?? A child carries a parcel from the United Nations World Food Program, which has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe.
Tsvangiray­i Mukwazhi / Associated Press file A child carries a parcel from the United Nations World Food Program, which has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe.

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