Press releases

More than half (57 percent) of the world’s poorest countries, home to 2.4 billion people, are having to cut public spending by a combined $229 billion over the next five years, reveals new analysis by Oxfam today ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Marrakech. 

All parties must immediately end this violence. Millions of innocent civilians are caught in the crosshairs of this escalation and are set to bear it's brunt.  

Responding to the recent wave of attacks in Ukraine which killed at least 52 people, Nicola Bay, Oxfam’s Organizational Lead in Ukraine said: "The attacks, which were near the operations being run by Oxfam and its partner organizations, will mean reaching those people already impacted by this war will be even more challenging."  

The COVID-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis were a windfall for the ultra-wealthy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), who saw their wealth almost double between 2019 and 2022, reveals an Oxfam report published today ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Marrakech. 

Over a third of the Yemeni population are facing extreme hunger, with rates of child malnutrition amongst the highest in the world. One year on from the expiration of the temporary peace agreement, Oxfam in Yemen is calling on all sides of the conflict to strive for a sustainable and inclusive peace, and for cuts to the international aid effort to be reversed. 

In response to the EU’s decision to extend the Temporary Protection Directive for refugees fleeing Ukraine, Nicola Bay, Lead of Oxfam’s Ukraine response, said:

This week, world leaders came together on the sidelines of the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit to urge for more global attention to addressing inequality. In a joint statement, they highlighted the urgency to save the inequality global goal (SDG10) and dramatically accelerate efforts to reduce inequality by adopting bolder targets and having more accurate tracking mechanisms.

The EU is in danger of violating global and EU aid rules by using aid to halt migration. This is according to Oxfam’s new report, From Development to Deterrence, which sheds light on how the EU employs its aid budget to outsource migration control to countries in Africa. The report reveals that 6 out of the 16 identified migration activities in Niger, Libya and Tunisia potentially breach aid rules. These 6 activities total €667 million, with the total funds analysed amounting to approximately €1 billion. 

Oxfam leaders, experts, and partners will be in New York for the UN General Assembly with a focus on the SDGs, inequality, climate, access to healthcare, humanitarian issues, and more. Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice and will bring this focus on inequality (Goal 10) and how it intersects with the entire 2030 agenda.

Today, the European Commission unveiled its proposal for a single EU corporate tax rulebook: BEFIT (Business in Europe – Framework for Business Taxation).  

In response to the G20 communique, Oxfam says: ‘The G20 has failed to meet the huge challenges our world faces. They continue to stumble away from taking the bold actions necessary to tackle poverty, inequality, and climate change after an uninspiring and underwhelming Summit in India this weekend.” 

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are set to rise by 10.6% by 2030 instead of falling by the 45% needed to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 °C. The G20 countries are the worst and most-responsible offenders, says Oxfam.

Pressure is piling on the G20 to lead a global push to increase taxes on the richest citizens back to past levels that most people believe were fairer and more useful for society. 

Despite being largely responsible for the worsening climate crisis in East Africa, rich nations paid Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan just $2.4 billion in climate-related development finance in 2021, in stark contrast to the $53.3 billion East Africa says it needs annually to meet its 2030 climate goals.  

Oxfam water engineers are having to drill deeper, more expensive and harder-to-maintain water boreholes used by some of the poorest communities around the world, more often now only to find dry, depleted or polluted reservoirs. 

Bangladesh’s Monsoon: Flooding and landslides kill at least five people in Cox’s Bazar – Oxfam responds

In response to Russia pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam food expert, said: “While this grain deal has played a part in calming skyrocketing food prices, it is not the cure-all for world hunger.

Leaders from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean will meet next week in Brussels for the first time in almost a decade. 

In reaction to the publicaiton today of the FAO’s “State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World 2023” report, stating that up to 783 million people faced hunger in 2022, and that 600 million persons will be chronically undernourished in 2030, Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam International Food Policy Lead said:  “It is unforgivable for governments to watch millions of people going hungry in a world of plenty, as they put the interests of mega-rich agribusinesses and energy companies before those of the most vulnerable people and widen the inequality gap.