Press releases

Evidence is mounting that a second wave of Covid-19 is already underway in Yemen, Oxfam warned today, with a 22-fold increase in recorded cases in recent weeks. It comes at a time when it is feared renewed fighting will force hundreds of thousands of people to flee to safety.

Responding to the announcement that the G7 finance ministers will back a new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: "This explicit agreement from the G7 finance ministers to support a new significant injection of funds to countries in need around the world is extremely welcome news. 

Five years ago, today, European leaders announced the EU-Turkey deal. Every single day since then, families have been trapped in ‘hotspots’ on the Greek islands, their lives put on hold.  

The EU and Greece created these ‘hotspots’ following the EU-Turkey deal. The EU’s aim to keep asylum-seekers on the Greek islands was to speed up their return to Turkey has resulted in appalling living conditions, violent border control practices and immense delays in asylum procedures. Despite overwhelming evidence of these failed policies, the EU migration pact seeks to copy this approach. 

As COVID-19 exposes vulnerabilities in the global food system, a new Oxfam report highlights the power of the world’s top ten food and beverage companies to create more equitable and sustainable supply chains that can help lift millions of food producers out of poverty and fuel economies. The comprehensive report, “Shining a Spotlight” assesses how companies have delivered on commitments made during Oxfam’s Behind the Brands campaign to implement stronger sourcing policies that impact climate change, land rights and women’s empowerment. 

In response to calls for a waiver of Trade and Intellectual Property Rules (TRIPS) for COVID-19 vaccines, which is backed by more than 100 mostly developing countries, being blocked again at World Trade Organisation talks by rich countries, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said:“This is a massive missed opportunity to speed up and scale up the production of lifesaving vaccines worldwide by waiving the intellectual property barriers that prevent more qualified manufacturers joining the effort.

Today, Members of the European Parliament voted on a report for corporate responsibility in global supply chains.   

One year on from the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the People’s Vaccine Alliance is warning that developing countries are facing critical shortages of oxygen and medical supplies to cope with COVID-19 cases yet the majority have been unable to administer a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In contrast rich nations have vaccinated their citizens at a rate of one person per second over the last month.

Next week, Members of the European Parliament will vote on a report that paves the way for the EU to require companies to protect human rights and the environment in their global value chains by law. MEPs must back this report.

In response to the Virtual High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Situation in Yemen, Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen said:  “Donors’ pledges to Yemen fall woefully short of what is desperately needed. Torn apart by six years of brutal conflict, with two thirds of the population reliant on food aid to survive, and thousands facing famine, Yemen desperately needs a ramping up not a reduction in aid." 
 

Responding to a press release issued by the G20 Presidency today signalling support for a new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International's Washington DC office, said: “After nearly a year of deadlock and pandemic, Oxfam is encouraged that the G20 is paving the path toward an issuance of International Monetary Fund (IMF) SDRs to boost global liquidity".  

In reaction to the UNFCCC NDC Synthesis report launched today, Oxfam's Global Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi, said: “Today’s report findings are appalling. The combined climate plans submitted account to a dismal 1% emissions reduction, far below the 45% reduction needed to limit global warming below 1.5 degrees, and avoid disastrous impacts on vulnerable communities."
 

After almost five years of deadlock, EU governments in the Council finally backed new EU rules on corporate tax transparency today. The proposal requires multinationals to publicly report on what profits they make, how much tax they pay, and where they pay it.

In reaction to Israel’s announcement to sending surplus vaccines to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Honduras, and Guatemala, Oxfam in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Acting Country Director Dina Jibril said: Israel’s deal to exchange surplus vaccines for UN votes and embassies, while the vast majority of almost 5 million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza are left to wait for the potentially life-saving vaccine is shameful and shortsighted. 

Commenting on the 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Yemen Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen, said: “The number of Yemenis in need is truly overwhelming, but we must remember that behind each of these statistics, there is a story of individual human suffering. 

Max Lawson, Oxfam Head of Inequality Policy, responds to the G7’s limited progress on ensuring poor countries have access to COVID-19 vaccines, Max Lawson, Oxfam Head of Inequality Policy.

Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International's Washington DC office, responds to the World Bank’s announcement today that it has appointed Mr. Makhtar Diop as the new CEO of its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Nearly two out of every five families in Yemen buy food and medicines using debt, according to Oxfam research published today. 

Tomorrow, Tuesday 16 February, European Union finance ministers will review the EU tax havens list, officially known as the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. This is an assessment of non-EU countries according to the current blacklist criteria. This process started in 2017 and takes place twice a year. Currently, 12 countries are blacklisted and 10 are ‘grey-listed’.  

Conditions in Moria 2.0 (Mavrovouni) are below the minimum humanitarian standards, yet Europe wants to replicate the policies that caused it. This is according to the latest report, “Tipping the Scales: the role of responsibility and solidarity sharing in the situation on the Greek islands” and the Lesbos bulletin, a February update from the ground by the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam.    

In reaction to the outcomes of the Committee on World Food Security meeting which ended yesterday, Thierry Kesteloot, Oxfam’s food policy advisor said: "Oxfam is outraged that the world’s foremost platform on global food security and nutrition has failed to agree on any action close to sufficient in tackling to the world’s COVID-fuelled food crisis.