Dalai Lama congratulates World Food Programme for Nobel Peace Prize

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama congratulated the World Food Programme (WFP) for winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, praising the UN body for its humanitarian works in reducing hunger and poverty.

In a congratulatory letter to David Beasley, the Executive Director of WFP, the Dalai Lama wrote, “This is a recognition of the organisation’s vital role in reducing hunger in the world.”

“Through its actions to address poverty, hunger and malnutrition, whether they arise due to conflict or natural disasters, the WFP is bringing help to the most vulnerable and needy. It brings peace and comfort where often there is only desperation.

“The Nobel Committee’s honouring of WFP is also a reminder to all of us of our responsibility to do what we can to narrow the gap between rich and poor.”

In 1989, the Norwegian Nobel Committee conferred the Nobel Peace Prize on the Dalai Lama in recognition of his non-violent campaign to end China’s domination of his homeland. China occupied Tibet in 1959, after which the Dalai Lama fled to India, making McLeod Ganj, a hilltop village in northern India, his exile base.

Expressing concern over the pandemic that has gripped the whole world with no end in sight, the Dalai Lama said, “As the current global health crisis reminds us, threats to the whole human family have to be addressed by us all, since we all want to be happy and free from suffering.

“Hunger and poverty can only be eliminated on the basis of international cooperation. As a firm believer in the oneness of humanity, it is my fervent hope that the award of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Programme will inspire an intensification of efforts to ensure that nobody is left to die of hunger anywhere.”

He expressed his appreciation to the members of the WFP, the people on the ground as well as officials, for the humanitarian work they do.