Press releases

Oxfam in Ethiopia’s Country Director Gezahegn Gebrehana said: “Oxfam welcomes today’s announcement from South Africa that the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the TPLF have agreed to a cessation of hostilities during African Union mediated peace talks. 

“While this report provides helpful information on various actions to advance the climate finance agenda, it fails to boost confidence that developed countries will make significant and swift progress on meeting their commitment to provide $100 billion annually, over 2020-2025 to assist poor countries. The report would have been an ideal moment for developed countries to spell out how they will compensate for missing the $100 billion mark earlier through additional climate finance in subsequent years. Also, it lacks a robust roadmap as to how they’re going to double adaptation finance by 2025, something they agreed to at COP 26.”

"This report shows world leaders are still failing to address the climate crisis —our planet is currently on track for a catastrophic global temperature rise of 2.5°C. Scientists are clear: it’s now or never to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Climate change is causing suffering across the world, and it will continue to do so. People are already being pushed from their homes, and are facing hunger and drought, floods, and other climate-induced disasters.”

On the eve of Climate Finance Day, an international finance event held annually in Paris, BNP Paribas – the number one financier of fossil fuel expansion in Europe and fifth in the world - was given three months to comply with the French duty of vigilance law. This legal action was taken by the NGOs Oxfam France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire à Tous. This is the first step towards an unprecedented climate litigation case - the first in the world to target a commercial bank for its high-risk activities in the oil and gas sector.

An average of 189 million people per year have been affected by extreme weather-related events in developing countries since 1991 – the year that a mechanism was first proposed to address the costs of climate impacts on low-income countries - according to a new report published today.

Many rich countries are using dishonest and misleading accounting to inflate their climate finance contributions to developing countries – in 2020 by as much as 225 percent, according to investigations by Oxfam.

One person is likely to die of hunger every 36 seconds between now and the end of the year in drought-stricken East Africa as the worst hit areas hurtle towards famine, Oxfam warned today.

Rich and poor countries alike have exacerbated an explosion of economic inequality since the outbreak of the pandemic from 2020, reveals new research by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI). 

Today, European finance ministers updated the EU tax haven list. The update includes the blacklisting of three additional countries (Anguilla, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos) and the complete delisting of two countries (Bermuda and Tunisia). 

As humanitarian and human rights organizations working in the occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt), we are deeply concerned about the prospects for the renewed EU-Israel Association Council.

Details of the World Bank’s climate finance flows to developing countries are being poorly disclosed and may be hiding discrepancies and allowing for dubious claims, according to a new report by Oxfam.

In response to the failure to extend the truce in Yemen, Ferran Puig, Oxfam Country Director in Yemen said: "The end of the truce is terrible news for the people of Yemen. Millions will now be at risk if air strikes, ground shelling and missile attacks resume."

Today, European energy ministers agreed on a package of emergency measures to curb the surge in energy prices. The package includes two measures to capture extraordinary profits from energy and fossil fuel companies. This follows the European Commission’s proposal on 14 September.   

Despite millions of people being pushed into hunger and poverty, 143 countries — including 94 developing nations — are implementing policy measures that undermine governments’ capacity to provide healthcare, education and social protection. 
 

Two-thirds of countries are yet to meet the target of vaccinating 70 percent of people in all countries against COVID-19 set a year ago at the UN General Assembly, according to figures published today by Oxfam and The People’s Vaccine Alliance.

After enduring more than seven years of brutal conflict the people of Yemen have finally had the opportunity to experience what it means to feel hopeful. An unprecedented truce, now in its sixth month, brings with it the possibility for longer-term peace and the chance to rebuild lives and livelihoods. But while the conflict has slowed, humanitarian needs continue to increase, and the humanitarian response remains under and unequally funded. 

As Yemen enters its eighth year of conflict, the country remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than two thirds of the population – over 23 million people – need humanitarian assistance. Millions of Yemenis' lives have been shattered as they face a collapsing economy marked by rounds of currency depreciation and lost livelihoods, a fuel crisis, and destroyed vital infrastructure, dramatic hikes in the prices of essential commodities like food, fuel, and medicine, along with non-existent or irregular payment of public wages.  This is pushing more and more people into extreme levels of hunger. The severe funding shortfall for the humanitarian response has further burdened the Yemeni people – right now, Yemen is the least funded response globally. 
 

With one person estimated to be dying of hunger every four seconds, 238 local and international non-governmental organizations are calling on leaders gathering at the 77th UN General Assembly to take decisive action to end the spiralling global hunger crisis. 

Anna Marriott's, Health Policy Manager at Oxfam and Policy Co-Lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, response to The Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s report on lessons for future pandemics.

Ten of the world’s worst climate hotspots – those with the highest number of UN appeals driven by extreme weather events – have suffered a 123% rise in acute hunger over just the past six years, according to an Oxfam report published today.