The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the U.N.'s World Food Program

(Image credit: STIAN LYSBERG SOLUM/NTB/AFP/Getty Images)

published 9 October 2020

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize early Friday to the World Food Program (WFP), the largest specialized United Nations agency, "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."

"In 2019, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger, the highest number in many years," and "most of the increase was caused by war and armed conflict," the Nobel Committee said. "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."

"With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world toward the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger," the committee said. "The work of the World Food Program to the benefit of humankind is an endeavor that all the nations of the world should be able to endorse and support." The Nobel Prize includes $1.1 million in prize money for the underfunded agency.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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