White Supremacy Culture In International Development Lives Another Day: The World Food Program Is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

10 days ago, on Friday 9 Oct 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Program.

In Alfred Nobel’s last will and testament he declares that the peace prize should be awarded to, “… the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.”

The announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize states:

The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more conspicuous than ever. 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 announcement continues:

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.

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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.

David Beasley, the Executive Director of the World Food Program, said just after the announcement that, “We cannot forget about those that are suffering because of war, conflict and climate change…this message (I think) is sending a message to the world that the international community feels the pain and suffering of those who are suffering around the world and we cannot forget about them and must be committed to them.”

With the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, and calls to address systemic racism in the international aid and development sector, the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Program is problematic at best and in the most insidious way, is a direct supporting call to the upholders of white supremacy and white supremacy culture within the international development sector at large.

The World Food Program is a United Nations organisation — the same United Nations that has deeply entrenched systemic racism, that doesn’t pay workers fairly, that is embroiled in sexual assault and power abuse scandals, and that in August 2020 sent out a survey to the entire UN staff body with one of the options for racial designation listed as ‘yellow.’

The World Food Program itself has faired no better in reports against senior staffers for sexual assault (You can find the whole external review here), attempted rape, abuse of authority, discrimination and retaliation. In September 2020, new reports surfaced of sexual abuse and exploitation against UN staff in Uganda where staffers are allegedly involved in demanding sex from local women in exchange for food. Added to this are the problematic external communications from the World Food Program, which continue to dehumanize Black and Brown communities through disturbing white savior narratives and the use of images of minor children (examples here, here, here, and here).

David Beasley, the WFP’s current Executive Director, is only another example of the white savior industrial complex operating within the organization. A previous member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and former governor of South Carolina, Beasley has never worked in international relations, international development, or the humanitarian relief sector. He was nominated to the position by former US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley (another former governor of South Carolina with limited foreign policy experience, who herself oversaw the withdrawal of the United States from the Human Rights Council). The appointment of a white man to a leadership position that he is wholly unqualified for is not unique or new to development organizations or the international development sector at large. But it is a problem.

In their announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize, the committee notes that the award was given in recognition of the need for international solidarity and the WFP’s efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. Meanwhile, they completely disregard the role of the United States, the largest funder of the World Food Program for the past 20 years, as one of the leading funders of the international global military complex at large, and the utter lack of commitment to its role in the climate crisis. These intersecting issues of American militarism (the US Military is the world’s largest climate polluter) lead not only to situations where international aid is needed but additionally promote conflict. It is yet another representation of how the international community and development sector fail to acknowledge the role white supremacy culture and colonialism have played in destabilising the world.

The Nobel Committee chose the World Food Program from 318 nominees (211 individuals & 107 organizations) for the Peace Prize this year, the fourth highest number of candidates ever. While the full list of nominees will not be released until 50 years from now, it is difficult to imagine that there weren’t any candidates on this list who have accomplished incredible feats for peace yet do not have WFP’s record of abuse and exploitation.

The decision to select the World Food Program signifies to the world that white saviorism and white supremacy are not only allowed but applauded. It tells Black and Brown communities that are constantly exploited by colonialism that they are not valued. It devalues its own power and relevance as a universally recognized award by equating incredible Nobel Peace Prize Laureates like Martin Luther King Jr. for his leadership in the American Civil Rights Movement and Tawakkul Karman, Leymah Gbowee, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and their work for women’s rights to an exploitative organization like the World Food Program. As the development sector continues to be driven by white supremacy culture and white savior complex and BIPOC collectives work to hold this sector accountable, now more than ever, institutions responsible for honors like the Nobel Peace Prize need to commit to anti-racism, equity and justice and call for structural transformation and accountability.

Established in June 2020, the Racial Equity Index Group is a collective of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) who currently work or have spent part of their career working in international development and are dedicated to holding the sector accountable through the creation of a global racial equity index.

Follow our work at TheRacialEquityIndex.Org