This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
UN’s WFP wins Nobel Peace Prize
The UN World Food Programme, which provides lifesaving food assistance to millions, often in extremely dangerous and hard-to-access conditions – has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
Announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized WFP “for its efforts to combat hunger” and “for acting as a driving force to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres hailed the award, calling WFP the “world’s first responder” on the frontlines of food insecurity.
“The women and men of the WFP brave danger and distance to deliver life-saving sustenance to those devastated by conflict” and disaster,” Mr. Guterres said in a statement.
WFP is the largest humanitarian organization in the world. Last year, it assisted 97 million people in 88 countries.
Two-thirds of the work is in conflict-affected countries where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict.
Executive-Director David Beasley warned shortly after the start of the COVID-19 crisis that 821 million people “go to bed hungry every night all over the world” and that 265 million could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of the year.
Nagorno-Karabakh: UN rights chief calls for urgent ceasefire
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called for an urgent ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh amid reports of mounting suffering among civilians.
The conflict over the border region in the South Caucasus dates back more than 30 years ago; the latest flare-up between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces started late last month.
The appeal by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights comes as hostilities have widened along the line of contact, with “populated areas reportedly targeted and shelled with heavy weaponry in and around the conflict area”, she said in a statement.
The UN human rights office said that information from different sources suggests that as of Thursday, more than 50 civilians, including children, have been killed. Staff from the Office of the High Commissioner have not been able to independently verify this information, however.
A large number of buildings, including houses, schools, and other civilian facilities have also been reportedly destroyed, most of which were located in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pandemic has changed online shopping forever: UN-backed survey
The coronavirus pandemic has forever changed the way consumers shop online, the UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, has found.
In a study of thousands of people in nine countries, UN researchers said that more than half reported they now opt to shop digitally, more than before the health crisis.
The greatest shift to online shopping has happened in emerging economies, according to the survey, which examined purchasing power in Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey.
Most product categories saw increased virtual sales of between six and 10 per cent; the biggest gains were in information and communications technology and electronics, followed by gardening/do-it-yourself items and pharmaceuticals.
Despite the busier virtual cash registers, the UNCTAD survey also revealed that average monthly expenditure per person, has dropped significantly.
It’s believed that this is because people everywhere have postponed larger purchases, with spending on tourism and travel down some 75 per cent since before COVID-19.
Daniel Johnson, UN News
