ISLAMABAD: The United Nations agency, World Food Program (WFP) has won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe.
The Rome-based organization says that it helps around 97 million people in about 88 countries each year and works to improve peace in conflict-affected areas. WFP also highlighted that one in nine people worldwide still do not have enough to eat.
The announcement was made in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Nobel Committee, on Friday
“With this year’s award, the (Committee) wishes to turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger,” said Reiss-Andersen.
“The World Food Program plays a key role in multilateral cooperation in making food security an instrument of peace” and “contributes daily to advancing the fraternity of nations mentioned in Alfred Nobel’s will,” she said.
The Nobel Committee stated that the coronavirus pandemic has added to the hunger faced by millions of people around the world. “The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more conspicuous than ever,” added Reiss-Andersen.
The prize is worth ten million Swedish crowns, or around $1.1 million, and a gold medal to be handed out at a ceremony to be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death.
On Monday, the Nobel Committee has awarded the prize for physiology and medicine for discovering the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus. Tuesday’s prize for physics honored breakthroughs in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes, and the chemistry prize on Wednesday went to women scientists behind a powerful gene-editing tool. (With input from INP)
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