Press releases

Oxfam expresses its profound sadness and condolences to Cecilia Mérida and the communities of Huehuetenango in Guatemala for the death of Rubén Herrera, a community leader, human rights defender, activist, and friend of many. 

Thousands of people in Yemen could be dying from undetected cases of cholera because COVID-19 has overwhelmed the country’s health facilities and people are too frightened to seek treatment for fear of the virus, Oxfam said today.

The number of coronavirus cases in Yemen is likely to peak in the coming weeks while the heaviest rains are expected in August which could deepen a hidden cholera crisis.

The fortunes of Latin America’s 73 billionaires surged by $48.2 billion since the beginning of the pandemic even as the region buckles as one of the worst-hit regions in the world, said Oxfam today. 

Coronavirus has breached the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, putting over 170,000 chronically ill refugees at significant risk, Oxfam said today. 

While the United States faces the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression because of COVID-19, a subset of corporations is reaping dramatic profits that are flowing to their already wealthy, mostly white male shareholders, further exacerbating existing inequalities, according to a new analysis released by Oxfam today. 

Reacting to the IPC announcement on the levels of hunger in the south of Yemen and their forecast for the months ahead, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director, Muhsin Siddiquey said: “This new data shows how bleak the situation is for the millions of Yemenis struggling with hunger as conflict has decimated infrastructure, restricted food imports, and led to mass unemployment."

COVID-19 is putting the lives of 45 million people who belong to 800 indigenous peoples at risk, warned Oxfam today.

The recovery fund and long-term EU budget agreed today do not match the urgency of our current situation and the challenges ahead, said Oxfam.

“Today’s lack of progress on debt relief is as irresponsible as it is underwhelming. Merely encouraging private sector creditors and multilateral banks to participate in the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) is woefully inadequate and a dereliction of duty. The G20 is in denial of the scale of response needed to address the worse global crisis in a century," said Jaime Atienza, Oxfam International’s Debt Policy Lead, in response to the communiqué of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

Heavy rains have swollen river basins in north Bangladesh, leading to severe flooding, submerging towns and destroying homes and crops in a region already suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic, Oxfam said today.

In reaction to the newly announced $10.3 billion UN Humanitarian Response Plan (UNHRP) appeal, Oxfam’s Head of Humanitarian Campaigns and Advocacy, Fionna Smyth, said: “We welcome this boost to the UN Covid-19 humanitarian appeal. Millions of people around the world already struggling to cope with crises brought about by conflict, poverty and climate change, have been hit even harder now by the coronavirus pandemic which has also fuelled a hunger crisis. This funding is lifesaving and urgently needed, yet less than a quarter of the previous appeal had been met." 

The coronavirus pandemic is fast pushing developing countries toward a debt crisis that would be catastrophic for their fight against poverty, with the likelihood of multi-billion-dollar defaults that will hurt the entire global economy, warned Oxfam ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting this weekend (July 18-19).

Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) today called on the government of Syria to facilitate the approval of aid delivery, while also calling on international donors to engage with government ministries to improve access and provide flexible funding for the overall aid response to crisis-affected families in Syria.

The General Court of the European Union ruled this morning (Wednesday 15 July 2020) that the European Commission was incorrect in its decision that 13 billion Euros in unpaid taxes by Apple constituted illegal state aid from the Irish government.

Today, the European Commission published an ‘Action Plan For Fair And Simple Taxation Supporting The Recovery Strategy’, including a communication on ‘Tax Good Governance in the EU and beyond’.

Commenting on the publication of a new UN Report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, which highlights that 60 million more people are hungry today than they were five years ago, and three billion men, women and children – over a third of humanity – cannot afford enough healthy food to eat, Rashmi Mistry, head of Oxfam's Grow Campaign, said: "The UN report is highly alarming. It shows our global food system is unravelling at the seams."

Today, a group of 83 millionaires from seven countries, the “Millionaires for Humanity”, released an open letter to governments, calling for a permanent tax increase on the very wealthiest to help pay for the global recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

“While we welcome the renewal of the resolution to allow cross-border aid, we are very concerned that the reduced crossing will limit the provision of clean water, food, shelter and healthcare on which millions of Syrians rely," said Oxfam in Syria’s Country Director Moutaz Adham in response to news that the UN Security Council’s resolution allowing cross-border aid into Syria was renewed but modified.

“As discussions and debating continues in New York for allowing aid into Syria, millions of Syrians who rely on this aid for clean water, food, shelter and healthcare, and who face the increasing threat of COVID-19, lie in the brink," said Oxfam in Syria’s Country Director Moutaz Adham in response to the results of three votes for allowing cross-border aid into Syria which have failed to extend the mandate of the cross border beyond Friday 10 July.

As many as 12,000 people could die per day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than could die from the disease, warned Oxfam in a new briefing published today. The global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached its highest recorded point in April 2020 at just over 10,000 deaths per day.