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	World Food Programme awarded Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian Nobel Committee, agencies   The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 to the World Food Programme (WFP) 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.   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.   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 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.   The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to emphasise that providing assistance to increase food security not only prevents hunger, but can also help to improve prospects for stability and peace. The World Food Programme has taken the lead in combining humanitarian work with peace efforts through pioneering projects in South America, Africa and Asia.   The World Food Programme was an active participant in the diplomatic process that culminated in May 2018 in the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of Resolution 2417, which for the first time explicitly addressed the link between conflict and hunger.   The Security Council also underscored UN Member States’ obligation to help ensure that food assistance reaches those in need, and condemned the use of starvation as a method of warfare.   With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger.   The World Food Programme plays a key role in multilateral cooperation on making food security an instrument of peace, and has made a strong contribution towards mobilising UN Member States to combat the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.   The organisation contributes daily to advancing the fraternity of nations referred to in Alfred Nobel’s will. As the UN’s largest specialised agency, the World Food Programme is a modern version of the peace congresses that the Nobel Peace Prize is intended to promote.   The work of the World Food Programme to the benefit of humankind is an endeavour that all the nations of the world should be able to endorse and support.   http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2020/press-release http://www.wfp.org/stories/hunger-hotspots-2021-world-food-programme-united-nations-famine-food-aid http://www.wfp.org/emergencies http://www.wfp.org/stories/ http://www.wfp.org/school-meals http://www.youtube.com/c/WorldFoodProgramme/videos http://www.wfp.org/media-centre   June 2021   WFP Global Operational Response Plan: June 2021   The driving focus of the WFP’s Global Operational Response Plan is to provide government partners, policymakers, humanitarian counterparts, and concerned citizens with an update on evolving needs and WFP’s response priorities.   The world is no longer moving towards Zero Hunger. Progress has stalled, reversed, and today, up to 270.5 million people are estimated to be acutely food insecure or at high risk in 2021, driven by conflict, economic shocks, natural disasters, and the socio-economic fallout from COVID-19.   Urgent action and immediate support are needed to address and prevent famine for millions of people and avert catastrophic outcomes, including wide-scale food assistance cuts for refugees and other vulnerable people.   The World Food Programme (WFP) is taking a leadership role, working with partners globally and nationally to meet people’s emergency food and nutrition needs and reduce the structural vulnerabilities that underpin them – by strengthening the capacity of individuals, communities, and governments, improving livelihoods, building resilience and reinforcing national social protection systems.   The June update provides the latest information, figures, and a snapshot of how WFP is implementing the Global Operational Response Plan, by:   Warning of the drivers and multiplying risks that have resulted in surging food insecurity and deepening hunger, with 41 million people at risk of falling into famine in 43 countries, and 584,000 people likely to face famine-like conditions in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen in 2021.   Setting out how WFP is responding through humanitarian action, development assistance and technical support to national governments – working to scale up lifesaving food and nutrition assistance, enhance prevention, and strengthen global and national partnerships.   Identifying WFP’s Operations of Highest Concern, where the scale and severity of food and nutrition insecurity, the scale of WFP’s operational requirements, and the urgency of funding gaps intersect, along with providing a detailed country-by-country overview across WFP’s operations.   Despite mounting operational requirements, the 2021 global contribution forecast covers just 55 percent of WFP’s current operational requirements of US$ 15.3 billion. For the next six months alone, WFP still requires US$ 4.5 billion to cover needs from June to November 2021.   http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-says-41-million-people-now-imminent-risk-famine-without-urgent-funding-and-immediate http://bit.ly/3wJFXKz http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-2-june-2021   # 20 Nov. 2020   WFP Global Update on COVID-19: Growing Needs, Response to Date and What’s to Come in 2021   WFP estimates that 271.8 million people in countries where it operates are acutely food insecure - or directly at-risk of becoming so - due to the aggravating effect the protracted COVID-19 crisis is having in areas affected by conflict, socio-economic downturn, natural hazards, climate change and pests. The latest estimate marks an increase in acute food insecurity from the earlier June projection. This November update of WFP's Global Response Plan to COVID-19 takes stock of efforts by regional bureaux and country offices to continue to sustain and scale-up operations to assist vulnerable communities and to support governments in their health and hunger response.   Food security partners still do not have the funding required to implement operations at the level required to prevent catastrophe. Needs-based plans developed by WFP country offices for the next six months stand at USS 7.7 billion through April 2021, half of which is still to be resourced:   http://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000121038/download/ (88p) Visit the related web page
	World Humanitarian Day: A tribute to aid workers on the front lines by UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, agencies   World Humanitarian Day honours all humanitarians – many working in their own communities – who are going to extraordinary lengths in extraordinary times to help women, men and children whose lives are upended by humanitarian crises and the global COVID-19 pandemic.   The dedication, perseverance and self-sacrifice of these real-life heroes represent the best of humanity as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis and the massive increase in humanitarian needs it has triggered.   First responders are often people in need themselves, members of civil-society and community based organizations, local health workers, non-government aid workers, amongst others. They bring food, shelter, health care, protection and hope to others amid conflict, displacement, disaster and disease.   But humanitarian workers are being tested like never before, struggling with unprecedented movement restrictions and insufficient resources as pressing needs are outpacing funds.   And all too often, they risk their own lives to save the lives of others.   In recent weeks alone, despicable attacks have killed aid workers in Niger and Cameroon, and since the onset of the pandemic, scores of health workers have come under attack across the world.   A surge in attacks against health workers was recorded in 2019, including strikes against medics in Syria and shootings of Ebola workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to Humanitarian Outcomes’ Aid Worker Security Database, major attacks against humanitarians last year surpassed all previous years on record. A total of 483 relief workers were attacked, 125 killed, 234 wounded and 124 kidnapped in 277 separate incidents. This is an 18 per cent increase in the number of victims compared to 2018.   Most of the attacks occurred in Syria, followed by South Sudan, DRC, Afghanistan and the Central African Republic. Mali and Yemen both saw a doubling of major attacks from the previous year. The UN condemns these attacks, and it calls for accountability for perpetrators and justice for survivors. Relief workers cannot ever be a target.   This is the eleventh World Humanitarian Day, designated by the UN General Assembly. It falls on the day of the attack on the UN compound in Baghdad on 19 August 2003, which claimed the lives of 22 people including UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. Since then, nearly 5,000 humanitarians have been killed, wounded or abducted, and the 2010-2019 decade experienced a 117 per cent increase in attacks compared to 2000-2009. Yet, today humanitarian workers are assisting people in crises in over 63 countries.   Mark Lowcock, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said: “To humanitarian workers everywhere doing important, courageous work on the front lines we say Thank You. You are saving lives every day, and as new challenges and crises are piling on to existing ones, your perseverance is an inspiration. Your protection is also paramount to making sure we can deliver to people most in need. The best way to pay tribute to humanitarian workers is by funding their work and ensuring their safety.”   In tribute to the efforts of humanitarians, we present a few personal stories of some of the #RealLifeHeroes who are stepping up to meet the challenges, particularly local humanitarian workers. They include refugees who as health workers are playing essential roles in the pandemic response; Ebola health workers who are stepping in to fight COVID-19; and doctors and nurses who continue to provide critical health care to women and children.   http://unocha.exposure.co/meet-reallifeheroes http://news.un.org/en/news/topic/humanitarian-aid http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/world-humanitarian-day-voices-aid-workers-part-1/ http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/ http://alliancecpha.org/en http://blogs.msf.org/blogs/staff-blogs http://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/emergency/global-covid-19/ http://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/ http://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2020/meet-the-real-life-heroes-of-nrc/ http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2020/8/5f3c07d44/unhcr-chief-praises-aid-workers-battling-multiple-crises.html http://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2020/08/19/default-calendar/world-humanitarian-day-2020 http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/ http://www.msf.org/year-pictures-2020 http://unocha.exposure.co/ochas-2020-in-reviewnbsp http://unocha.exposure.co/ http://www.unocha.org/media-centre/news-updates http://reliefweb.int/topics/covid-19-global http://reliefweb.int/ http://www.wfp.org/emergencies/covid-19-pandemic http://www.wfp.org/news/world-food-programme-assist-largest-number-hungry-people-ever-coronavirus-devastates-poor http://bit.ly/31dU7WO http://fews.net/global/alert/july-31-2020 http://fews.net/covid-19-pandemic-impacts-food-security http://www.ipcinfo.org/ http://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 http://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html   * COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan (July update 110pp): http://bit.ly/2ElbifW   * FAO/WFP Analysis - Acute Food Insecurity Hotspots (July 2020): http://bit.ly/30XbgnH   * The cost of doing nothing: The price of inaction in response to the COVID-19 crisis: http://bit.ly/3gbcsI8   # The Global Humanitarian Overview, including the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, aims to provide assistance to 249.6 million of the 405.7 million people in need. This significant increase is due to the addition of countries facing humanitarian impacts of COVID-19 and its associated health and socio-economic shocks, as well as the increases in both COVID and non-COVID needs in countries with existing inter-agency coordinated plans: http://gho.unocha.org/ Visit the related web page
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