# 2020 Nobel Prize in Peace: Fighting hunger to keep the peace > The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize went to the World Food Programme, the United Nations agency that fights hunger around the world. The committee honoured it for feeding people in war zones and for pushing back against the use of starvation as a weapon. Its core message was simple: you cannot build lasting peace while people are going hungry. - Laureates: World Food Programme (share 1, United Nations agency, Rome) - Official citation: “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” - Course page: https://nobelexplained.com/peace/2020-hunger-and-peace - Last updated: 2026-06-21 ## Explained simply (ELI5) The 2020 Peace Prize did not go to a person. It went to an organisation: the **World Food Programme**, often shortened to WFP. It is part of the United Nations, and its job is to get food to people who do not have enough, especially in places torn apart by war and disaster. Why would feeding people win a *peace* prize? Because hunger and war are tied together. When fighting breaks out, farms are destroyed and food cannot reach people, so they go hungry. And when people are desperate and hungry, that desperation can spark even more conflict. WFP works to break that cycle by delivering food where it is needed most. > **Not one winner, but thousands** The Peace Prize can go to an institution, not just a person. WFP is the world's largest humanitarian organisation, with tens of thousands of staff. In 2019 it reached close to 100 million people in 88 countries. Its executive director, David Beasley, accepted the award on behalf of all of them. ## Explained for undergraduates The World Food Programme was founded in 1961 and is the United Nations agency for food assistance, headquartered in Rome. By 2020 it was the world's largest humanitarian organisation, running on voluntary donations from governments, companies, and individuals rather than a fixed budget. Roughly two-thirds of its work takes place in countries scarred by conflict, where people are far more likely to be undernourished than those living in peace. > **Hunger and conflict feed each other** The Norwegian Nobel Committee described the link between hunger and armed conflict as a vicious circle. War destroys harvests, blocks supply routes, and drives people from their homes, which creates hunger. Hunger and scarcity, in turn, can make fragile societies even more unstable and tip them back into violence. The committee argued that food assistance does not only feed people; it can also improve the prospects for stability and peace. **What WFP does** - **Emergency relief:** delivering food and cash to people caught in wars, famines, and natural disasters, often in dangerous, hard-to-reach places. - **Building resilience:** helping communities recover and feed themselves over the long term, and running the world's largest school-meals programme. - **Shaping policy:** WFP was an active participant in the diplomatic process behind UN Security Council Resolution 2417, adopted in 2018, which for the first time condemned the use of starvation as a weapon of war. **The scale of hunger when WFP won** (Figures the Nobel Committee pointed to in 2020) - People WFP assisted (2019): ~100 million (across 88 countries) - People facing acute hunger (2019): 135 million (the highest in years, mostly driven by war) - Projected within a year (COVID-19): up to 265 million (the committee's warning for the year ahead) ## Explained for experts The 2020 prize landed in the middle of a worsening global picture. In 2019, the number of people suffering acute hunger had climbed to 135 million, the highest in years, and most of that rise was driven by war and armed conflict. The COVID-19 pandemic was compounding the crisis, and the committee warned that the number of people on the brink of starvation could rise sharply in the year ahead. Since the United Nations made ending hunger a Sustainable Development Goal in 2015, WFP has been the primary instrument for reaching it, and roughly two-thirds of its work sits in conflict-affected countries. Awarding the prize to WFP was partly a spotlight on that emergency and an appeal for the funding the agency said it urgently needed. > **Resolution 2417 and hunger as a war crime** One of the committee's specific reasons was WFP's role in the diplomatic process behind UN Security Council Resolution 2417, adopted unanimously in May 2018. For the first time, the Security Council explicitly addressed the link between conflict and hunger, condemned the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, and affirmed that it may constitute a war crime. It also stressed member states' duty to let food assistance reach those in need. - **1961**: WFP is established as the UN's food-assistance agency, based in Rome. - **2015**: Ending hunger is adopted as a UN Sustainable Development Goal, and WFP becomes the primary instrument for reaching it. - **May 2018**: The UN Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 2417, condemning starvation as a weapon of war. - **9 Oct 2020**: The Norwegian Nobel Committee awards WFP the Peace Prize. - **10 Dec 2020**: David Beasley accepts the prize on WFP's behalf at its Rome headquarters. **Context, impact, and debate** - **A familiar Nobel choice:** the committee has often used the Peace Prize to honour humanitarian institutions, from the Red Cross to UN agencies, rather than only peace negotiators. - **The funding message:** accepting the award, David Beasley used it to press wealthy nations and billionaires to step up, warning that without billions of dollars in extra support, millions of people could face famine. - **Criticism and questions:** some observers asked whether a large UN agency, dependent on government donations and itself part of the international system, was a conventional peacemaker, and noted that food aid can struggle with delivery, neutrality, and dependency in active war zones. - **The core claim stands:** by tying the prize to hunger, the committee insisted that fighting starvation and building peace are not separate causes but two sides of the same work. ## Think first **Q:** Feeding hungry people is clearly a good thing, but it sounds like humanitarian aid, not peace work. So why did the Nobel Committee call it a Peace Prize? **A:** **Because hunger and war are locked in a loop, and breaking it is peace work.** The committee's argument is that conflict causes hunger by wrecking farms and blocking aid, while hunger and scarcity can push fragile societies back into violence. Feeding people in and around war zones eases that pressure and improves the prospects for stability. WFP also helped drive the international agreement, Resolution 2417, that made the deliberate starving of civilians a tactic the world formally condemns. So the prize honoured food assistance as a foundation for peace, not just a response to disaster. ## A funding plea, from the podium Accepting the prize for WFP, executive director David Beasley turned the moment into an appeal. He warned that the world stood on the edge of a hunger crisis of historic scale and urged the wealthiest people and nations to step up, saying that billions of dollars were needed to pull tens of millions of people back from the brink of famine. ## Key terms - **World Food Programme (WFP)**: The United Nations agency for food assistance, founded in 1961 and based in Rome. It is the world's largest humanitarian organisation and funds its work through voluntary donations. - **Food insecurity**: Not having reliable access to enough safe, nutritious food. Acute food insecurity is the severe, life-threatening form that emergencies and conflict can cause. - **Resolution 2417**: A UN Security Council resolution adopted in 2018 that condemned the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and recognised it may constitute a war crime. - **Humanitarian organisation**: A body that provides relief such as food, water, and medical care to people affected by crises like war and natural disaster, in principle on a neutral and needs-based basis. - **Vicious circle**: A chain of events in which each problem worsens the next, as when war causes hunger and hunger in turn fuels more conflict. ## Check yourself 1. Why did an agency that delivers food win the Nobel Peace Prize? - Because it negotiated a ceasefire between two countries - **Because hunger and conflict fuel each other, so fighting hunger helps build peace** (correct) - Because it is the oldest organisation in the United Nations - Because it invented a new kind of food - Why: The committee argued that war causes hunger and hunger can fuel further conflict. Feeding people in war-torn regions helps break that cycle, which is why food assistance counts as peace work. 2. What did UN Security Council Resolution 2417, which WFP helped bring about, establish? - That every country must donate to WFP - **That using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war can be a war crime** (correct) - That WFP would replace the Red Cross - That hunger had been eliminated - Why: Adopted unanimously in 2018, Resolution 2417 was the first time the Security Council condemned the use of starvation as a method of warfare and affirmed it may amount to a war crime. 3. The 2020 laureate was unusual in one structural way. What was it? - **The winner was an organisation, not an individual** (correct) - The prize was awarded twice - There was no citation - The winner declined the award - Why: WFP is an organisation, so the laureate here is marked as an organisation rather than a person. The Peace Prize can be awarded to institutions as well as individuals. ## The laureates ### World Food Programme The World Food Programme is the United Nations agency for food assistance, founded in 1961 and based in Rome. It is the world's largest humanitarian organisation, funded by voluntary donations rather than a fixed budget, and in 2019 it reached close to 100 million people in 88 countries. Its executive director at the time, David Beasley, accepted the prize on its behalf. ## Sources - [The Nobel Peace Prize 2020, press release (NobelPrize.org)](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2020/press-release/) - [World Food Programme (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Food_Programme) - [UN World Food Programme wins 2020 Nobel Peace Prize (UN News)](https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/10/1075012) --- From Nobel Explained (https://nobelexplained.com), a free, independent course on every Nobel Prize since 2020. Not affiliated with the Nobel Foundation. Facts are pinned from the official Nobel Prize API.