Press releases

Oxfam’s response to the latest report from the Integrated Food Security Classification System (IPC) released this afternoon on the situation in Somalia. 

Today, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed the introduction of a cap on revenues of companies producing electricity with low costs and a solidarity contribution from fossil fuel companies. The revenues from these unexpected profits will be directed to people and businesses to help them adapt to the recent increase in energy prices as well as to invest in clean home-grown energy sources.

Leading NGOs including Oxfam, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, and T&E highlight the absurdity of burning food for fuels ahead of upcoming EU Parliament vote on the EU’s green fuels law.

Oxfam is mounting a humanitarian response to the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan working with a network of local partner organizations. Relief efforts will focus on two of the hardest-hit provinces of Balochistan and Sindh in the south-west of the country. The response will target 25,000 families and households affected by the floods.

On this World Humanitarian Day, Oxfam and the Global Protection Cluster join the humanitarian community in celebrating frontline humanitarian leaders working to protect the lives and rights of people living through crises. 

Responding to the Yemen truce extension, Abdulwasea Mohammed, Advocacy, Media and Campaigns Manager for Oxfam Yemen, said: “Oxfam welcomes the extension of the truce in Yemen and urges all parties to now prioritise the lives of Yemeni civilians and uphold and fulfil all areas of the agreement.

Ahead of the end of the current UN-led truce agreement on 2 August 2022, Oxfam and 29 humanitarian organisations in Yemen urge all parties to the conflict to adhere to and extend the agreement to protect civilians across the country and allow them to rebuild and recover their lives.

In response to reports that the first shipment of grain left Ukraine today, Eric Munoz, Oxfam America Food and Agriculture expert said:  “Oxfam welcomes this news but warns that lifting the grains blockade alone will not solve the global hunger crisis.”

Ten years since the first tents were pitched in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan’s, almost 82,000 Syrian refugees are still living there, facing increasing precarity as shrinking incomes, rising prices and spiralling debt drive them further into poverty.

Yemen is facing unprecedented rises in the price of food putting millions more people in danger of catastrophic hunger, Oxfam warned today.

In reaction to Ukraine and Russia's recent grain deal, Max Lawson, Oxfam International's Inequality and Policy Lead said:  “This is extremely important decision that puts people before politics. The deal will help calm spiralling food prices which have fuelled poverty and hunger around the world".

“This declaration is yet another shameless blame-shifting exercise from an industry that has chosen to prioritise obscene profits over human life throughout the pandemic”, said Anna Marriott, Oxfam Health Policy Manager & Policy Co-Lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance.

Food inflation in some East African countries outstrips the global average leaving millions hungry, while food billionaires increased their wealth by $382bn over the last two years.

In response to the results of the vote on a UN resolution continuing to allow cross-border aid into Syria, Oxfam’s Head of Office in New York, Brenda Mofya said: “The UN Security Council’s decision to renew the cross-border resolution for only six months is deeply disappointing and could potentially leave more than four million people in northwest Syria without the assistance they depend upon to survive when the harsh winter months arrive."

In reaction to FAO’s new “State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World 2022” report, stating that as many as 828 million people were hungry in 2021, an increase of 150 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam Food Policy Lead said: “It is deeply concerning that global hunger has been spiralling since 2019 and is now at such devastating levels around the world. This is happening not because of a shortage of food but rather as a consequence of a broken food system further undermined by conflicts, the effects of the COVID pandemic and worsening climate change. 

Responding to news of the $4.5 billion pledge made by the G7 leaders to tackle global hunger, Max Lawson, Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam said:

‘Faced with the worst hunger crisis in a generation, the G7 have simply failed to take the action that is needed. Many millions will face terrible hunger and starvation as a result.’

Less than half (49 per cent) of the 2.1 billion COVID vaccine donations promised to poorer countries by G7 countries have been delivered, according to new figures published today by Oxfam and the People’s Vaccine Alliance.  

As the G7 leaders meet in Germany, crises of extreme inequality, unprecedented food and energy price inflation, accelerated by the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, are converging to create a catastrophe for the world’s poorest people.

The G7 must pursue windfall taxes on excess corporate profits including from those making huge returns from surging food and energy prices. The revenues can be used to fund an end to global hunger and to tackle climate change, says Oxfam.

Today, the European Parliament voted on its position on a carbon border tariff for companies exporting to the EU (the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism). In response, Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam EU Tax expert, said: “Forcing the poorest countries to pay this tariff is unfair. Europeans are responsible for double the carbon emissions as those in the poorest half of the world since 1990. This decision allows rich countries to pass the buck to those least responsible for the climate crisis.