World Food Programme wins Nobel Peace Prize 2020 for efforts to combat hunger
The World Food Programme won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to combat hunger and improve conditions for peace in conflict areas, the Nobel committee said.
“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,” Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said on unveiling the winner in Oslo.
The WFP was honoured 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,” the jury said
Whether delivering food by helicopter or on the back of an elephant or a camel, the WFP prides itself on being “the leading humanitarian organisation” in a world where, by its own estimates, some 690 million people — one in 11 — go to bed on an empty stomach.
Founded in 1961, the UN organisation helped 97 million people last year, distributing 15 billion rations to people in 88 countries last year.
It’s hard to make @WFPChief speechless, but it’s how we’re all feeling right now! Thank you @NobelPrize for this recognition of our work and for this incredible honour. #NobelPeacePrize https://t.co/W7tvPqOJzM
— World Food Programme (@WFP) October 9, 2020
The Nobel prize — which consists of a gold medal, a diploma and a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million, 950,000 euros) — will be presented to the winner on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Swedish industrialist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel, who created the awards in his will.
