2020 Nobel Peace Prize Goes To UN World Food Programme

The United Nations food agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), has won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and improve conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas.

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 cooperation is more conspicuous than ever,” said Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen of the prize committee. “The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 to the World Food Program 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 Nobel Committee said that the coronavirus pandemic has added to the hunger faced by millions of people around the world and called on governments to ensure that WFP and other aid organizations receive the financial support necessary to feed them.

There was no shortage of causes or candidates on this year’s list, with 211 individuals and 107 organizations nominated ahead of the February 1 deadline.

However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee maintains absolute secrecy about whom it favors for arguably the world’s most prestigious prize.

The award comes with a 1.1 million US dollars cash prize and a gold medal to be handed out at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death.

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