UN World Food Programme Wins 2020 Nobel Peace Prize
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Oct. 10, 2020 Caesarian death case A Belgian anesthetist went on trial in the French city of Pau, accused of causing the death of a British woman during a Caesarian section six years 9 ago while under the influence of alcohol, AFP reported. Society Gang violence erupts UN World Food Programme wins in Bangladesh Rohingya camps forcing families to flee 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Fighting between rival gangs in the Rohingya refugee settle- ments in Bangladesh has forced hundreds of people to leave their shelters in a week where at least seven have died. he United Nations World Food Programme “When it is night, it becomes hell. When you try to sleep (WFP) was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize you hear a lot of firing, you hear a lot of bullets, people are Ton Friday for its efforts to combat hunger and screaming, people are fleeing from home,” said a Rohingya food insecurity around the globe. refugee who lives close to where the fighting has taken place, The body was rewarded for “its contribution to bet- the Guardian reported. tering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and “I saw a large number of people, they were running with for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use long knives, long sticks, and they were firing into the open,” of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict,” said Berit they said. Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Nobel Committee, NBC The refugee, who asked to remain anonymous, said they News reported. had to leave the camp at night and sleep rough in a nearby “In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Pro- Bangladeshi village, returning during daylight hours. gramme has demonstrated an impressive ability to inten- Rohingya activists said the fighting has exposed how vul- sify its efforts,” she added. nerable people are in the crowded camps, especially at night The Rome-based organization is the world’s largest when security forces and humanitarian agencies withdraw. humanitarian group addressing hunger and promoting The seven fatalities, including one woman, have all hap- food security. In 2019, it provided assistance to close to pened in the past few days, according to Shamsud Douza, an 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of official in Bangladesh’s camp authority. acute food insecurity and hunger. The clashes have featured the Munna group, named af- The prize was announced virtually from Oslo, Nor- ter their leader, who is suspected of being involved in drug way, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. smuggling from Myanmar, and another faction allegedly The United Nations is no stranger to the Peace Prize. linked to the rebel group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army The global body last won the award in 2001 along (ARSA). with then secretary-general Kofi Annan “for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.” The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces won in 1998 and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UN- HCR) won in 1981 and Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in TONY KARUMBA/AFP 1965. A plane, leased to the World Food Programme (WFP), makes a drop of food aid near a village in Ayod county, South Sudan, The deadline for nominations was February 1, which on February 6, 2020. means that those on the front lines of fighting COV- ID-19 — which was only declared a pandemic in March work to end apartheid and Martin Luther King Jr. for his in 2002 for finding peaceful solutions to international — were not likely to be contenders. non-violent campaign against racism. conflicts after he left office. While Theodore Roosevelt Last year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali Organizations are also eligible and the award has pre- scooped the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919 claimed the prize for his work to promote reconciliation, viously gone to the United Nations and humanitarian after World War I. solidarity and social justice in the East African country agencies such as the International Committee of the Red The award has faced some controversy in the past. and for signing a major peace deal with neighbor Eritrea Cross and the International Campaign to Abolish Nucle- Along with enormous prestige and immediate global after decades of fighting. ar Weapons. attention, the prize comes with a 10-milion krona ($1.1 Previous winners include educational activist Malala Four former US presidents have claimed the prize. million) cash award and a gold medal to be handed out Yousafzai who was shot by the Pakistani Taliban, South Former President Barack Obama in 2009 for his ef- at a scaled-down ceremony in Oslo, on December 10, the MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela for his forts to strengthen international diplomacy, Jimmy Carter anniversary of industrialist Alfred Nobel’s death. Security forces carry out a patrol in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The fighting has terrified other refugees as huts have been torched by the rival Rohingya groups. Activists’ photos show India’s tea workers strike DR Congo to probe families fleeing with their belongings on their shoulders, looking for other places to stay in the camps. as government fails allegations of abuse The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it has struggled to provide help to these newly displaced fami- lies, and that humanitarian agencies had to temporarily with- to deliver wage increase by Ebola health workers draw from the camps on Wednesday because of the violence. Services have since resumed. Attacks on military posts in Myanmar by ARSA in 2016 and 2017 were followed by the brutal crackdowns and “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya, pushing them into Bangladesh. The group distanced itself from the camp unrest in a statement on Monday, claiming “we are being framed by these gangs”. A contact close to the group said core members are not in the camp, but aligned gangs have been vying for control with Munna. “Both of them are criminals,” said another refugee activist, who also did not want to be named. “Tens of thousands will get relief and be able to sleep well if these people weren’t op- pressing our community.” The methamphetamine “yaba”, produced in Myanmar, has become pervasive in Bangladesh, where there are millions of addicts. Refugees have been blamed for introducing the drug to the country. “The scenario is yaba versus yaba,” said one man. “Munna BISWANATH CHARIALI/AP BISWANATH CHARIALI/AP recruited some unemployed boys by offering them huge sala- ries and then ARSA could no longer influence in some areas Over 400,000 workers on Indian tea will to push through the increase,” DR Congo said it would launch an DRC authorities, “we contacted the but, for them, it is very important to keep control all over the plantations that supply the world’s said Barnabas Kindo, adviser to inquiry into accusations that inter- WHO, which is going to organize an camps.” largest tea companies have gone on Pahjra, a group that campaigns for tea national workers in an anti-Ebola international inquiry, because most “A minority of people are engaged with them but the suf- strike over the government’s fail- workers’ rights. campaign had sexually abused local of those implicated in this kind of ferers are the whole population. They can’t protest, they can’t ure to implement a promised daily Binoja Horo, 34, has worked as tea women. sexual exploitation are international speak against them, they are just stuck under them,” they said. wage increase from £1.70 to £3.70 a plucker for 16 years at Helem tea es- A report last month said dozens of employees,” said Longondo. Douza said Bangladeshi law enforcement had stepped up day. tate, along with her husband. She said women described sexual exploita- He added that he had also con- patrols in the camps and carried out arrests. An activist shared The past week has seen around 250 it is becoming increasingly difficult tion by aid workers from the UN’s tacted the UN Children’s Fund, a picture from Wednesday of police walking through the tea estates across the Assam region to meet the family’s basic household World Health Organization (WHO) UNICEF. camps in riot gear. close, with the partial closure of a fur- expenses. and leading NGOs during the 2018- Longondo also said the govern- “The situation is deteriorating and Rohingya in the camps ther 20, the Guardian reported. “The only way we manage is by 2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern ment would launch a separate inqui- need protection. We spoke with some affected by the violence Assam accounts for half of India’s not buying any clothes. When the Democratic Republic of Congo, ry into employees with DR Congo and their fear is palpable,” said Matthew Smith, head of ad- production of tea leaves. children ask for a certain food item, AFP reported. nationality “in order to prevent this vocacy group Fortify Rights, who warned against withdraw- For years, the owners of the vast we say no. We have to keep saying no “The Congolese government will kind of behavior” in the latest out- ing humanitarian agencies that were needed more than ever to plantations in Assam have been ac- all the time to everything they ask. I act. We are going to set up an inves- break of Ebola, in the northwest of support the displaced refugees. cused of under-paying and exploiting need this wage rise but I don’t know tigative team which will go to North the vast country. “The current level of protection is minimal … these war- workers. Campaigners have reported if it will happen,” she said.