Nobel Peace Prize not given to WHO for fear of offending Washington: Chinese mouthpiece GT

As the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Rome-based United Nations’ food-assistance branch - World Food Programme, the editor of Chinese mouthpiece Global Times said that it should have been given to the World Health Organisation. In a tweet, he said that Nobel Committee "didn't have guts' to award the WHO alleging that it would offend Washington. He also opined that Nobel Peace Prize should have been "cancelled long ago."

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World Food Programme awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize

The World Food Programme (WFP) was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize on October 9 for its efforts to combat hunger and improving the conditions of conflict-ridden areas. Established in 1961, the Rome-based United Nations’ food-assistance branch remains the world’s largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger and promoting food security.

The WFP was created as an experiment to provide food assistance through the UN system. WFP was initially tasked with emergency aid and rehabilitation, however, in 1963, the aid group launched its first development programme for Nubians in Sudan. In 1965, WFP was enshrined as a full-fledged UN programme and was to last for “as long as multilateral food aid is found feasible and desirable”.

During the long famines in African’s Sahel region in the 1970s, WFP used camels, cars, and aircraft to provide food aid. It provided 2 million tons of food during the Ethiopian famine of 1984 and year later, released 1.5 million tons of food under Operation Lifeline Sudan. The 20-aircraft and three-sorties a day airdrop helped save hundreds of thousands of lives.

WFP is also the largest humanitarian organisation implementing school feeding programmes worldwide and in 2019, it provided school meals to more than 17.3 million children in 50 countries. The aid group says that it meets people’s food needs through cash-based transfers that allow the people they serve to choose and shop for their own food locally.

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