People who seek protection in Greece are regularly denied access to a fair and efficient asylum process, Oxfam and the Greek Council for Refugees revealed in a new report today.

Climate fuelled disasters were the number one driver of internal displacement over the last decade, forcing more than 20 million people a year – one person every two seconds - to leave their homes, said Oxfam today. The contentious issue of financial support for communities, including displaced communities, which have suffered loss and damage as a result of the climate crisis is expected to take centre stage at the UN Climate Summit in Madrid from 2 – 13 December 2019.

Yesterday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, visited the Reception and Identification Centre in Moria – Lesvos to witness first-hand the human cost of flawed migration policies which have stranded over 39,000 people in overcrowded, dangerous refugee camps.

Rappers, poets and musicians from across Asia, Africa and Latin America are playing in a global jam session called the “Say Enough Cypher” with original poems and songs aimed at transforming the attitudes, beliefs and social norms that fuel violence against women and girls.

In response to the legal developments concerning the alleged crimes committed against Rohingya people in 2017, Oxfam welcomed these important steps towards attaining international justice and accountability.

With a new US-led peace initiative looming, it is critical to look back over the last 26 years and the legacy of the Oslo Accords to bring insight and understanding and to learn vital lessons from the past.

Today, the European Court of Justice has ruled in favor of labeling products originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

There is a real risk that the OECD’s proposal on the application of a new minimum corporate tax rate will only benefit a handful of mainly rich countries where multinational companies are headquartered. Countless other rich and poor countries where these corporations do business will not be able to recover lost taxes.

More than 52 million people in 18 countries across southern, eastern and central Africa are facing up to crisis levels of hunger as a result of weather extremes, compounded by poverty and conflict.

The United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is an indefensible, pointless and morally bankrupt capitulation that will only serve to weaken the global effort to combat the climate crisis, Oxfam said.

“Oxfam calls for the immediate appointment of a new UN Personal Envoy for Western Sahara to restart the peace process without any further delay. The lack of progress has led to rising frustration within the refugee camps that the Western Sahara crisis is once again being forgotten by the international community, and risks the positive momentum towards a political solution that former Personal Envoy Horst Koehler had begun.”

The World Bank’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) announced today that it will launch a formal investigation into investments made by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in for-profit multinational school chain Bridge International Academies.

Rich polluting countries such as Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the US are short-changing poor countries by billions of dollars that they need to cut emissions and adapt to the climate crisis, says Oxfam. The two-day pledging conference to the Green Climate Fund begins in Paris today.

15 million people in Yemen have had their water supplies severely cut, putting them at risk of deadly diseases like cholera because of a fuel crisis, analysis by aid agencies, including Oxfam, has shown. 

Hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medicines, 11 aid agencies warned today.

Oxfam hopes that this award, recognising Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s courage and leadership, will give new impetus to peace initiatives in Ethiopia and all over the world.

Civilians at risk as violence escalates and humanitarian work is suspended.