Policy Papers

New Oxfam estimates show that 263 million more people could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2022, due to the combined impact of COVID-19, inequality and food and energy price inflation – accelerated by the war in Ukraine. Without urgent and bold national and international action, inequality and poverty will deepen, with poorer countries – many of which face looming debt crises – pushed deeper into poverty.

Research on forced displacement reveals a wide gap between policy processes and the people that such processes seek to assist. This paper proposes actionable recommendations on how to operationalize the concept of ‘meaningful refugee participation’ in decision-making processes that affect the lives of refugees.

Oxfam has been part of the global Fair Trade movement since its inception. We believe the current trade system is far from just or sustainable. Trade justice offers an alternative approach: one that requires shared responsibility according to everyone’s capabilities and considers privileges, as well as systemic change in the economic, gender, climate and political realms.

The human and economic cost of COVID-19 has been staggering, in terms of lives lost, human suffering, and economic damage. As we mark two years since the official pandemic was declared, we still have a chance to gain the upper hand on the virus, but only if everyone, everywhere has access to vaccines and treatments.

Oxfam in Uganda recognizes the need for equitable access to vaccines and affordable healthcare services for everyone – including refugees and asylum seekers. Ensuring that COVID-19 vaccines are available and accessible to refugees is critical in the fight against the pandemic in Uganda. It is thus important to identify and address barriers that refugees are facing in accessing vaccines.

COVID-19 has pushed millions into poverty in East Africa, and worsened inequality. However, building back during and after the pandemic offers East African governments a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do what their citizens want: make their economic systems fairer by increasing taxes on wealthy and large corporations, boost public spending, and improving workers’ rights.

Widening inequalities are tearing our world apart. This is not by chance, but choice: “economic violence” is perpetrated when structural policy choices are made for the richest and most powerful people. But we can radically redesign our economies to be centered on equality, in which nobody lives in poverty, nor with unimaginable billionaire wealth—in which inequality no longer kills.

This report proposes specific actions to strengthen the role of local actors and potentially local humanitarian leadership in the response in Burkina Faso, so that it is more appropriate to needs, faster and more sustainable, and responsive to the changing reality dictated by an increased violence, while keeping people at the centre.

As we continue to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, it is vital that no one is excluded from vaccine coverage. This briefing note addresses some of the challenges faced by displaced people – including refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, stateless people, and others in displacement contexts – in accessing Covid-19 vaccinations.

Gender-based violence is a global pandemic existing in all social groups across the globe, yet it has largely been ignored in the COVID-19 response and recovery plans. Barriers to achieving gender justice continue to exist, but progress made since the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign show that there are solutions.