Press releases

The destruction of critical water and sanitation infrastructure by the Israeli forces along with severe over-crowding, malnutrition and heat is pushing Gaza to the brink of a deadly epidemic outbreak, Oxfam warned today. 

In reaction to Russia’s attack on Kharkiv today which severely damaged a community centre operated by Oxfam’s partner “Peaceful Heaven of Kharkiv”, Nicola Bay, Oxfam’s Organisational Lead for Ukraine, said: 

In reaction to Israel’s imminent invasion of Rafah, Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director said: “We are horrified by Israel’s order to evacuate around 100,000 people and what appears to be an impending invasion of Rafah, despite a universal plea from world leaders urging it to stop its continued, barbaric, onslaught.  

Global dividend payments to shareholders grew on average 14 times faster than worker pay in 31 countries, which together account for 81 percent of global GDP, between 2020 and 2023, reveals Oxfam’s new analysis ahead of International Workers’ Day (May 1). 

Reacting to the GRFC 2024 report, Oxfam Global Food and Economic Security Lead, Emily Farr, said: “The global hunger crisis is fundamentally a moral crisis. It is unforgivable that over 281 million people are suffering acute hunger while the world’s richest continue to make extraordinary profits, including the same aerospace and defence corporations helping to fuel conflict, the main driver of hunger.  

Oxfam experts, together with cocoa farmers, will be at the World Cocoa Conference in Brussels (21-24 April), taking place against a backdrop of unprecedented production shortfalls and skyrocketing cocoa prices, which topped $11,000 per metric ton for the first time.

In response to the statement from G7 Foreign Ministers today, Oxfam Italy’s Humanitarian Policy Advisor, Paolo Pezzati, said: “The G7’s calls for Israel to halt its planned offensive in Rafah, a permanent and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, urgent access of lifesaving aid and the release of all hostages is welcomed, but it must not be more words without actions."

Reacting to the outcome of the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its neighbours, held in Paris today, at which countries pledged a total of $2 billion – Oxfam in Africa Director Fati N’Zi Hassane said: “It is morally incomprehensible that Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan – among the world's most fragile states –bear the brunt of Sudan’s conflict while the richest nations slack.   

Income inequality is high or increasing in 60 percent (64 out of 106) of low- and middle-income countries receiving grants or loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, reveals new Oxfam analysis ahead of the 2024 Spring Meetings in Washington D.C. Countries with high levels of income inequality have Gini coefficients above 0.4, the warning level set by the United Nations.

EU governments are losing out on a staggering 286.5 billion euros in revenue annually, equivalent to 33 million euros per hour, due to their failure to fairly tax Europe’s wealthiest. This amount, equivalent to Finland’s GDP, represents what a European wealth tax of up to 5 percent could raise every year, according to Oxfam’s analysis.