Recognizing the World Food Programme Recipient of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this week's Nobel Peace Prize celebration in Oslo, Norway, is honoring the United Nations World Food Programme for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contributions 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.

I am proud to add my voice in congratulating this deeply important organization and the thousands of its heroic and courageous staff on this well-deserved honor.

In 1961, President Eisenhower called on the United Nations to address hunger, leading to the creation of the World Food Programme. Since then, the World Food Programme has provided lifesaving help in some of the world's most difficult places and conditions.

The United States remains a strong partner of the World Food Programme and one of its biggest funders. During my time in the Senate, I joined several of my colleagues such as the late Senator Dick Lugar and Senator Bob Casey in strong bipartisan support for the organization and related efforts to combat hunger at omeand abroad.

Today, the World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading global agency delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. It provides more than 15 billion meals to 100 million people in more than 80 countries each year. Through war zones, floods, famines, and earthquakes, the World Food Programme is on the ground for those most in need, a ray of hope in the lives of the most vulnerable. It has truly earned recognition as ``the world's first responder,'' as noted by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Like all first responders, it did not hesitate to answer the call when the COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier this year. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every sector of life all over the world, adding another level of hardship on those in the midst of conflict and poverty and potentially doubling the number of people facing acute hunger to 270 million. But since the start of this emergency, the World Food Programme has continued providing relief to children and families in the mounting crisis.

While the need for food relief has drastically increased during the pandemic, hunger has long been used a tactic in conflicts around the world. Food supply chains are disrupted or humanitarian aid is restricted, essentially starving innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. In turn, starvation leads to more conflict over scare resources. The link between food insecurity and conflict is clear: one fuels the other. And it is also clear that helping populations with emergency relief and long-term sustainability prevents millions of people from experiencing the horrors of starvation as a tactic of war and conflicts from erupting out of the desperation of hunger. Not only is it a moral responsibility to aid the world's most vulnerable, but it is in the best interest of the international community for a more secure world.

The World Food Programme is one of the best examples of the good that comes from global cooperation. From our American farmers working alongside farmers all over the world, to the staff on the ground, it takes many to help feed the world's poor. No country alone would be able to reach every comer of the globe, especially in the most entrenched of conflicts such as Yemen, Syria, and South Sudan. It is critical that the United States continues to support the World Food Programme, and I will continue to work to ensure that Congress provides the funds to do so.

While the global COVID pandemic is a setback in feeding the world, I am confident that the World Food Programme will help lead the way to alleviating the suffering. I again congratulate the World Food Programme and all of its staff for their courageous efforts.

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