UN agency WFP wins Peace Prize

Agency forced to raise its game as pandemic contributed to massive upsurge in numbers of hungry

The UN food agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to combat hunger and improve conditions for peace in areas affected by conflict.

The Rome-based organisation says it helps some 97 million people in about 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 co-operation is more conspicuous than ever,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told a news conference.

The 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 the WFP says could double hunger worldwide, has made it even more relevant, she said. “The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world,” the Nobel committee said in its citation.

“Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos ...

“There is an estimate within the World Food Programme that ... there will be 265 million starving people within a year, so of course this is also a call to the international community not to underfund the World Food Programme.”

WFP responded by tweeting its thanks for “recognition of the work of WFP staff who put their lives on the line every day to bring food and assistance to more than 100 million hungry children, women and men across the world ”. At a briefing in Geneva, WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri told reporters: “For WFP this year we have gone over and above the call of duty ...

“Everything went into shutdown following nationwide and global restrictions following Covid-19. The WFP stepped up to the plate, we were able to connect communities. At one point, we were the biggest airline in the world when most if not all commercial airlines had ground to halt.”

Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee had wanted to send a message of both hope and “support for international co-operation”.