WFP peace prize a call for unity
At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has fractured global alliances and going it alone has turned ugly, some world leaders say the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Programme is a commitment to the belief that only a concerted effort can save humanity from further disaster.
‘‘This not only recognises your tireless work for food security on our planet, but also reminds us of the key importance of multilateralism that delivers results,’’ European Council President Charles Michel said in a congratulatory message.
‘‘Multilateralism now more important than ever before,’’ Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven tweeted.
The choice of the WFP – headed by an American – is widely seen as supporting the call to global solidarity that the United Nations and others have stressed as confirmed Covid-19 deaths climb past 1 million, and as famine becomes a danger in several countries.
In responding to the pandemic, the WFP launched an extraordinary emergency aid delivery service as most global flights were grounded, involving almost 130 countries. This was on top of its usual work feeding
millions of hungry people around the world.
The Nobel Committee made it clear that this year’s award was a plea for unity.
‘‘We are sending a signal to every nation (that) raises objections to international cooperation. We are sending a signal to this type of nationalism where the responsibility for global affairs is not
being faced,’’ committee Berit Reiss-Andersen said.
‘‘ Multilateral cooperation is absolutely necessary to combat global challenges. And multilateralism seems to have a lack of respect these days.’’
The renewed call to solidarity faces fearsome challenges.
Some rich countries have stockpiled millions of doses of
head
potential Covid-19 vaccines, to the dismay of other nations. And some of the world’s most highprofile leaders have downplayed the pandemic, including United States President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. All three were later infected by the virus themselves.
Alarmed by the apparent chaos, many world leaders used last month’s annual UN General Assembly to issue calls for a return to the multilateralism that the world body has represented for 75 years.
Even before the pandemic, populist forces were pulling unity apart. Brexit was one symbol of the turn inward, along with restrictions against migrants in the US, Europe and elsewhere. And trade wars rumble on even as Covid-19 rocks economies around the world.
Weary of the divisiveness, some leaders yesterday leapt at the Nobel news to issue a warning that unilateralism was bound to fail.
‘‘Solidarity is precisely needed now to address not only the pandemic, but other global tests of our time,’’ UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
‘‘WFP operates above the realm of politics, with humanitarian need driving its operations. The organisation itself survives on voluntary contributions from UN member states and the public at large.’’
This was a reminder that the World Health Organisation, in the midst of arguably the worst pandemic in a century, stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year if the US follows through on Trump’s intention to withdraw from it.