World Food Program awarded 2020 Nobel peace prize

The World Food Program, the world's largest humanitarian organisation focused on fighting acute hunger, has won the Nobel peace prize for 2020.

The prize was awarded in Oslo by the chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, at 11am Central European Summer Time (8pm AEST).

The World Food Program has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe. Credit: AP

Ms Reiss-Andersen said the work of the United Nations' World Food Program to decrease food insecurity "not only prevents hunger, but also improves prospects for prosperity and peace".

She said the organisation had won the prize for its contribution "to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas" by preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of armed conflict.

The WFP provided assistance to almost 100 millon people across 88 countries who are subject to food insecurity in 2019. The organisation estimated almost 135 million suffered from acute hunger across the same year, primarily caused by armed conflict.

"I think this is the first time in my life I've been without words," WFP’s head David Beasley told Associated Press from Niger. "I was just so shocked and surprised."

In 2015, eradicating hunger was adopted as one of the United Nations' sustainable development goals.

Ms Reiss-Andersen said the coronavirus pandemic "had caused a "strong upsurge" in the number of people struggling to find food, strengthing the reason for the prize to be awarded to an organisation that focuses on hunger and food insecurity.

"The crisis hits communities and nations who have instable infrastructure and have food instability much harder than it hits other communities," she said.

"The pandemic has increased the need for food aid - food aid is not only about edible foods, it’s protective measures, it’s investment in local farming.

"Some Indigenous people have isolated themselves from the virus, and cannot feed themselves. So food is less available to some populatiosn because of the virus."

Last year's peace prize went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his work to end almost two decades of conflict with neighboring Eritrea.

Previous laureates include Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King and the European Union.

The Nobel Foundation announced last month it was increasing the amount awarded for individual prizes to 10 million kronor ($2.4 million), from 9 million kronor previously, to reflect a rise in the returns generated on its capital.

With Bloomberg, AP

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