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Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition  2020

Yemen - Road of Glory 

Interview with David Beasley, Executive Director of World Food Programme

Celebration of the Nobel Peace Prize 2020

The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, in conversation with Executive Director Kjersti Fløgstad of the Nobel Peace Center about WFPs work and how peace and food security are closely linked. Photographer of this years' Nobel Peace Prize exhibition, Aida Muleneh, will join the conversation.

Afterwards there's a talk between Ms Fløgstad, Executive Vice president of Hydro, Inger Sethov, CEO of Yara, Svein Tore Holsether and Director General of Norad, Bård Vegar Solhjell. 

In this conversation, they discuss how business can take a role in the challenges of combatting hunger and thus contribute to more peaceful societies.

Acceptance Speech - World Food Programme (WFP)

Path of lost lives

The 2020 Peace Prize exhibition tells the story of the World Food Programme, and it explores the links between food and war. Peace Prize Exhibition photographer 

has portrayed ten different historic events where food has played a major role - one of these events is the 1904 Herero genocide in Namibia.

Of the countries in present-day Europe, Germany is a relatively recent addition. The nation was not united until 1871, when an alliance of German states under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck defeated the French in the Franco-Prussian War. Germany was now united under one banner and was eager to claim its seat at the table, alongside the other major European powers. Germany, however, was far behind in the race for overseas colonies, and much of the world was already under European control. Africa, however, was an exception.

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck aggressively pursued a policy of imperialism, both for economic benefits and for national prestige. In 1884, Bismarck invited the European powers to a conference in Berlin, where they proceeded to divide up Africa between them. Germany gained several large territories, among them German South West Africa, in present-day Namibia.

In 1870, only 10% of Africa was under European control. In the time leading up to World War 1, that number would increase to 90%.

In their encounter with the Herero people, the Germans allied with Herero leader Samuel Maherero. Maherero was a Christian, and this common reference point was a useful basis for cooperation.

After some time, many Germans had settled in the area, and began to confiscate land, steal cattle, and other goods that were essential to the local food systems. The relationship between the Germans and the Herero quickly turned sour. A cattle disease, followed by severe droughts in 1904, became the catalyst for an armed rebellion against the German colonial power. German forces, with modern firearms and racial views that justified their ruthless approach to the rebellion, quickly quelled the uprising. But the Germans did not stop at that.

After crushing the uprising, the German campaign began to change. What had begun as a military operation to subdue an armed struggle became a general war against the Herero, with the stated goal of extermination. The order came from the very top. On October 2, 1904, General Lothar von Trotha, the supreme commander of the German forces in the country, issued his “extermination order”, which in many ways speaks for itself.

Von Trotha further pointed out that women and children should not actually be shot – only fired toward in order to scare them. The German view was that by avoiding atrocities against women and children, the soldiers would “maintain their good reputation”

The Hereros, meanwhile, mostly attacked German soldiers and military installations, and left German civilians alone.

The marching orders were clear: The Hereros were to be driven out of their lands. To ensure their extermination, water holes would be occupied or poisoned, and any Herero near them would be shot. Thousands of Hereros were driven out into the scorching Kalahari Desert, and without access to water or food, the population succumbed to starvation and thirst. The survivors were put to work in prison camps, and many were subjected to experiments and race research. 

A new term was born in the German language: Konzentrationslager – concentration camp.

Approximately 60 000 of 80 000 Hereros were killed between 1904 and 1908, in what is considered the first genocide of the 20th century. After the atrocity was completed, the German occupiers strengthen race laws and escalated the theft of land. Namibia eventually gained its full independence in 1990 – that time, from South Africa’s apartheid regime.

With this year’s Peace Prize exhibition, the Nobel Peace Center sought to highlight how food was used as a tool for power in conflict.

 is one of ten photographs that seeks to capture a historical moment where food has been used as a tool for power in conflict.

The Herero genocide and the Holocaust were both annihilation policies that involved establishing concentration camps. 

"Judging from the similarities between this genocide and the Holocaust, I realized that this was one of the first modern day genocides," says 

. "The background was inspired by a photo I saw of the Namib Desert, which is a place of great beauty, but also the grave of the past."

Click here to experience the Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition 2020

The exhibition is supported by Yara International (Nobel Peace Prize Celebration Partner 2020), Canon (print partner) and Bergesenstiftelsen.

The German genocide you've never heard of

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The stories behind the Peace Prize Exhibition 2020

Mass vaccination against Covid-19 is well underway. More than 

million dozes have been administered across 92 countries, in the largest global immunization effort in history. But vaccines are not equally distributed between countries. They are reaching high income countries at great speed, while the world’s poorest are still waiting for their first dozes to arrive.

Secretary General António Guterres said earlier this week. He said 75 per cent of all vaccinations took place in only ten countries and called for greater solidarity from the world’s leading economy. “Now is the time”, he said, warning that what he called “vaccinationalism” would delay global recovery.

Realizing that no country is safe until the whole world is safe, leaders of some of the richest countries in world, the G7 reinforced their support for international cooperation on health response to Covid-19 in at virtual meeting last Friday. They increased their financial support to the vaccine cooperation ACT-A and COVAX, the international financial system set up to secure vaccine distribution to low-income countries. At the same time, the EU doubled its contribution. The UK, Canada, Rane, Norway and the European Union also committed to sharing vaccine surplus with developing countries.

The Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, thanked the countries for their support but emphasized that more funding was needed to reach the goal of distributing at least 1,3 billion vaccine dozes to vulnerable states in the next months.

Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition 2020

The German genocide you've never heard of

A call for vaccine solidarity

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