Press releases

More 80 people including women and children have been killed in Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar, and millions more need urgently need clean water, shelter and food following Cyclone Freddy – the longest and strongest tropical storm on record in the Southern hemisphere – which has damaged thousands of homes, roads, and telecommunication infrastructures.  

Europe currently wastes land the size of Ireland on crops for biofuels which is an obstacle to tackling the climate crisis and food security, a new study shows. The study commissioned by T&E shows that this land could be used to feed 120 million people or, if given back to nature, could absorb twice as much CO2 as is supposedly saved by powering cars with biofuels. Using an area equivalent to just 2.5% of this land for solar panels would produce the same amount of energy.

Oxfam, along with partner organizations, will engage by hosting one official side event and 12 parallel events under the NGO CSW Forum. This year the CSW priority theme addresses challenges to women’s rights and equity related to education in the digital age and the review theme looks at the empowerment of rural women and girls. 

A fire that swept through Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Sunday has left 12000 people homeless and in urgent need of shelter, water, sanitation, and medical services. Oxfam is mounting a response to provide immediate food and shelter to impacted people.  

In reaction to the Virtual High-Level Pledging Event on the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, which took place today, where international donors pledged only around $1.2 billion out of the total $4.3 billion UN's appeal for the country, Ferran Puig, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen, said: “The money pledged today is nowhere near enough. The world must not look away while Yemen faces a humanitarian crisis - the consequence of doing so will be tragic."

In response to President Biden’s nomination of former MasterCard and Nestlé executive, Ajay Banga, to the position of World Bank president, Christian Donaldson, Oxfam International’s senior policy advisor on international financial institutions, made the following statement: “While Mr. Banga may have extensive experience on Wall Street, we had hoped that President Biden would use this opportunity to ditch the old gentlemen’s agreement of World Bank and IMF appointments in favor of a more transparent and merit-based global process."

Friends of the Earth (Les Amis de la Terre) France, Notre Affaire à Tous and Oxfam France, who had given BNP Paribas formal notice to comply with its due diligence obligations on 26 October, sued BNP Paribas over its massive support to fossil fuels and for its substantial contribution to climate change. BNP Paribas is Europe’s largest and fifth worldwide funder of fossil fuel expansion: the three organizations urge the bank to immediately stop financing this expansion and to adopt an oil and gas exit plan. This is the world's first climate lawsuit against a commercial bank.

Despite promises, nearly three-quarters of African governments reduced their agricultural budgets while paying almost double that on arms.

Hundreds of thousands of people, among those who lost their homes in the massive earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria ten days ago, are now crammed into temporary shelters with insufficient clean water or toilets. 

In response to the announcement today that World Bank President David Malpass will step down from his position by the end of June, Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: “If shareholders really want to ‘evolve’ the World Bank, then here is their golden opportunity. Malpass’ successor must be hired based on an open, merit-based and transparent selection process rather than the 80-year-old gentleman's agreement which sees the job automatically go to someone from the US. This is critical for the credibility and future strength of multilateralism."

Today, European finance ministers updated the EU tax haven list. They added four countries to the blacklist (British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands and the Russian Federation), three to the greylist (Albania, Aruba and Curacao) and they removed four countries from the greylist (Barbados, Jamaica, North Macedonia and Uruguay).

Oxfam, together with our partners in Turkiye (Turkey) and Syria, is working to reach nearly 2 million people – 10 percent of the population affected by the quake – with aid and support so that they can rebuild their lives.   

In reaction to the 2023 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan published today, Oxfam Country Director in Somalia, Adil AlMahi, said: “With five failed rain seasons, Somalia is quickly moving towards what may be one of its worst humanitarian crises in recent history. People’s ability to cope has been stretched to a breaking point. They have nothing left to fall back on. 

EU leaders will meet this week to discuss Europe’s response to migration. Ahead of this, Stephanie Pope, Oxfam EU migration expert said “The latest proposal attempts to bully non-EU countries into doing its work and following Europe’s narrow-minded political objectives. EU countries must create a migration policy that works for people, not one built on blackmail, forced returns and fences.”  
 

Oxfam teams in Turkiye and Syria are assessing along with partner organisations the fastest, most appropriate humanitarian efforts to help affected people in the aftermath of Monday’s devastating earthquake – the biggest in Turkiye since 1939. 

Dr Aruna Rao, Chair of the Oxfam International Board, said today: 
“Oxfam International Executive Director Gabriela Bucher has been offered a new leadership challenge in the field of human rights and it is with regret that I share that she will be leaving Oxfam on 30 April 2023. Gabriela will head up the The Fund for Global Human Rights, headquartered in Washington DC.
 

The European Commission has launched an infringement procedure against Greece about how they treat people arriving in Europe to seek asylum and the asylum process. This could result in the Commission taking Greece to court. Oxfam has been advocating for this for years due to Greece's systematic breaches of EU asylum law. This includes launching a joint legal complaint with other human rights groups.

The richest 1 percent grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth worth $42 trillion created since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population, reveals a new Oxfam report today. During the past decade, the richest 1 percent had captured around half of all new wealth. 

Responding to news that the World Trade Organization (WTO) will push back its deadline to reach a deal on easing intellectual property rules on COVID-19 tests and treatments to support the production of cheaper generic equivalents in developing countries, Max Lawson, Co-Chair of the People’s Vaccine Alliance and Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam, said: “We are nearly three years into the COVID-19 pandemic. As many as seventeen million people are estimated to have died in the time that the WTO has bickered over intellectual property rules for tests and treatments. To say that more time is needed to consider the issue is utter nonsense.

Amongst the over 20 targets being discussed at the COP15 Biodiversity Summit is to set aside 30 percent of the world's lands and oceans for nature to protect biodiversity by 2030. However, states have so far failed to commit to protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and those of local communities living in these areas.