Press releases

In response to Israel’s operation in Nuseirat over the weekend, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Middle East Sally Abi Khalil said:

“We welcome the news that four hostages are back with their families after an eight month-long ordeal in captivity, under constant Israeli bombardment. Taking hostages is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and independent international investigation of all incidents is essential.

Europe’s agriculture industry is exploiting the at least 2.4 million migrants who harvest Europe’s fruits and vegetables. This is according to a new report published today by the University of Comillas and Oxfam researchers titled “Essential but invisible and exploited.” 

Israel’s relentless air and land bombardment and deliberate obstruction of the humanitarian response is making it virtually impossible for aid agencies to reach trapped, starved civilians in Gaza, Oxfam said today, as the latest ceasefire deal negotiations continue.

In response to World Health Organization (WHO) member states not reaching an agreement on a pandemic accord in time for the World Health Assembly this week, Oxfam International’s Health Policy Lead, Anna Marriott, said: “Negotiators have been working on drawing up a global treaty meant to prevent a repeat of the extreme vaccine apartheid between Global North and South during the COVID-19 pandemic. But time and time again in these negotiations, rich countries have danced to the tune of big pharmaceutical corporations instead of healing the deep geopolitical chasms caused by their short-sighed vaccine nationalism."

As Israeli attacks intensify on Rafah, the unpredictable trickle of aid into Gaza has created a mirage of improved access while the humanitarian response is in reality on the verge of collapse, warn 20 aid agencies.

Reacting to donor pledges made at the Brussels conference on Syria today, Oxfam in Syria Country Director, Moutaz Adham, said: "While we welcome the pledges made today, the discussion remains far removed from the harsh realities Syrians face."

In response to the communiqué published following today’s meeting of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Oxfam International’s Tax Policy Lead, Susana Ruiz, said: “That conversations about taxing the super-rich are happening at the G7 and G20 is historic. A majority of people, across party lines and across countries, support proposals to fairly tax the rich.
 

In reaction to today’s order from the International Court of Justice to South Africa’s case, which demands Israel halt its offensive in Rafah, Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Middle East said: "Oxfam welcomes the ICJ’s order as a critical intervention to stop Israel’s military onslaught on Rafah, which has displaced more than 800,000 people, and an affirmation of the right to life of the Palestinian people."

In reaction to Spain, Ireland and Norway recognizing the State of Palestine, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa said: “This recognition is a landmark decision and other countries must follow suit. It is a crucial step in affirming the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination, but it must transcend beyond symbolism into concrete steps towards ending the Israeli occupation and achieving full sovereignty for the Palestinian State.

The destruction of critical water and sanitation infrastructure by the Israeli forces along with severe over-crowding, malnutrition and heat is pushing Gaza to the brink of a deadly epidemic outbreak, Oxfam warned today. 

In reaction to Russia’s attack on Kharkiv today which severely damaged a community centre operated by Oxfam’s partner “Peaceful Heaven of Kharkiv”, Nicola Bay, Oxfam’s Organisational Lead for Ukraine, said: 

In reaction to Israel’s imminent invasion of Rafah, Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director said: “We are horrified by Israel’s order to evacuate around 100,000 people and what appears to be an impending invasion of Rafah, despite a universal plea from world leaders urging it to stop its continued, barbaric, onslaught.  

Global dividend payments to shareholders grew on average 14 times faster than worker pay in 31 countries, which together account for 81 percent of global GDP, between 2020 and 2023, reveals Oxfam’s new analysis ahead of International Workers’ Day (May 1). 

Reacting to the GRFC 2024 report, Oxfam Global Food and Economic Security Lead, Emily Farr, said: “The global hunger crisis is fundamentally a moral crisis. It is unforgivable that over 281 million people are suffering acute hunger while the world’s richest continue to make extraordinary profits, including the same aerospace and defence corporations helping to fuel conflict, the main driver of hunger.  

Oxfam experts, together with cocoa farmers, will be at the World Cocoa Conference in Brussels (21-24 April), taking place against a backdrop of unprecedented production shortfalls and skyrocketing cocoa prices, which topped $11,000 per metric ton for the first time.

In response to the statement from G7 Foreign Ministers today, Oxfam Italy’s Humanitarian Policy Advisor, Paolo Pezzati, said: “The G7’s calls for Israel to halt its planned offensive in Rafah, a permanent and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, urgent access of lifesaving aid and the release of all hostages is welcomed, but it must not be more words without actions."

Reacting to the outcome of the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its neighbours, held in Paris today, at which countries pledged a total of $2 billion – Oxfam in Africa Director Fati N’Zi Hassane said: “It is morally incomprehensible that Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan – among the world's most fragile states –bear the brunt of Sudan’s conflict while the richest nations slack.   

Income inequality is high or increasing in 60 percent (64 out of 106) of low- and middle-income countries receiving grants or loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, reveals new Oxfam analysis ahead of the 2024 Spring Meetings in Washington D.C. Countries with high levels of income inequality have Gini coefficients above 0.4, the warning level set by the United Nations.

EU governments are losing out on a staggering 286.5 billion euros in revenue annually, equivalent to 33 million euros per hour, due to their failure to fairly tax Europe’s wealthiest. This amount, equivalent to Finland’s GDP, represents what a European wealth tax of up to 5 percent could raise every year, according to Oxfam’s analysis. 

“Keeping already insufficient aid at stagnating levels costs lives and is a moral failure. Again, rich countries have betrayed their promise to the world’s poorest people —a promise to end hunger, invest in life-saving public health systems, and expand education opportunities so nobody is left behind."