AUCKLAND (NZ Punjabi News Service):
Contrary to predictions by bookmakers, who had placed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as top favourite for 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) has bagged the prize.
UN through WFP has been combating hunger and making contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas. Nobel Committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen announced the award in Oslo, Norway, tonight
The World Food Programme, the UN's food-assistance arm, is the world's largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger and promoting food security.
The WFP last year provided assistance to nearly 1 million people in 88 countries affected by acute food insecurity and hunger.
"I think this is the first time in my life I've been without words," World Food Programme executive director David Beasley told the Associated Press from Niger. "I was just so shocked and surprised."
Of total 318 candidates for prize this year, 211 were individuals and 107 were organisations. The prize, which comes with a NZ$1.6 million cash prize and a gold medal, will be presented on December 10.
The World Health Organisation, Greta Thunberg, US President Donald Trump and Saudi women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul were also included in the pick.
Jacinda Ardern was being considered as favourite for the prize following her response to the March 15 last year Christchurch terrorist attacks.
The Prime Minister, however, said she was not expecting to win, saying that there were others who were more deserving of the prize.
"I'm extremely flattered by the fact that people even consider it within the realm of possibility," she said. "But, it’s fair to say, I never have."
"The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger and promoting food security. In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger. In 2015, eradicating hunger was adopted as one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The WFP is the UN’s primary instrument for realising this goal. In recent years, the situation has taken a negative turn. In 2019, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger, the highest number in many years. Most of the increase was caused by war and armed conflict," Nobel Committee said announcing the prize.
"The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world. In countries such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the combination of violent conflict and the pandemic has led to a dramatic rise in the number of people living on the brink of starvation. In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts. As the organisation itself has stated, “Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos," the Committee said.
"The world is in danger of experiencing a hunger crisis of inconceivable proportions if the World Food Programme and other food assistance organisations do not receive the financial support they have requested".
"The link between hunger and armed conflict is a vicious circle: war and conflict can cause food insecurity and hunger, just as hunger and food insecurity can cause latent conflicts to flare up and trigger the use of violence. We will never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict".