Policy Papers

Six years after the establishment of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, people in Gaza continue to live on the brink of disaster as a result of 13 years of the Israeli blockade. The water, sanitation and health sector remains significantly damaged, with Gaza facing the complete collapse of its wastewater treatment system.

From 2013 to 2016, Oxfam's Behind the Brands campaign called on the world’s 10 biggest food and beverage companies to adopt stronger social and environmental sourcing policies. Now we assess whether the companies have taken meaningful steps to implement the commitments they made in response to the campaign. 

The worldwide Enough Campaign aims to challenge and change the social acceptance and prevalence of violence against women and girls and gender-based violence by addressing the social norms that justify and perpetuate abuse and gender inequality. Covering the first three years of the campaign, this report documents and assesses progress and results.

The coronavirus crisis has exposed our collective frailty and the inability of our deeply unequal economy to work for all. Yet it has also shown us the vital importance of government action to protect our health and livelihoods, and to create a more equal and sustainable world. 

This briefing aims to share the insights Oxfam gained from interviews conducted with 26 experts on the subject of what works for women to represent themselves effectively. It outlines practical steps that companies can take to enable women to be heard in the workplace and fulfil their potential.

While women in civil society often lead the way in preventing and bringing an end to violence, they are not included meaningfully in peace and security decision-making, even at the UN Security Council – the guardian of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. 

As 2020 draws to a close, the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating. Our analysis shows that none of the social protection support to those who are unemployed, elderly people, children and families provided in low- and middle-income countries has been adequate to meet basic needs.

New Oxfam analysis reveals huge carbon inequality in Europe. To achieve the deeper emissions cuts needed by 2030, European leaders must put fairness and a just transition at the heart of the Green Deal that tackles both inequality and emissions and can help build fairer, healthier and more resilient societies in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

Oxfam analysed the World Bank’s emergency health funding to 71 countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While its response has been rapid and significant, Oxfam finds that the World Bank has missed vital opportunities to strengthen public health systems so they can tackle COVID-19 and deliver health for all in the future. 

In 2009, an Oxfam report highlighted five main effects that Bolivia could expect as a result of climate change: less food security; less water availability; more frequent and larger-scale “natural” disasters; an increase in mosquito-borne diseases; and more forest fires. About 10 years later, a similar team of experts traveled to different regions of the country, to explore some aspects that could not be covered in the previous visit and to observe the changes.

This paper seeks to highlight the experiences and aspirations of young women and feminist activists in the MENA region around digital spaces, safety and rights. It explores individual women’s experiences engaging with the digital world as a space of resistance, despite restrictions on civic space.

In most countries, land inequality is growing. Worse, new measures and analysis published in this synthesis report show that land inequality is significantly higher than previously reported. This trend directly threatens the livelihoods of an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide involved in smallholder agriculture.

Pre-pandemic, EU policies towards North Africa focused on two main paradigms: trade liberalization and the minimization of both regular and irregular migration. These agendas were incoherent and had overwhelmingly negative implications for the livelihoods and employment opportunities within the EU for the most vulnerable people in the Maghreb.

This paper looks at donor contributions to the 2020 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan to date. Using a methodology based on the relative global share of Gross National Income for high-income countries, it examines whether these countries are doing their ‘fair share’ in funding the response to the crisis in Yemen.

This year marks an historic chapter in the story of international aid. On 24 October 2020, it will be 50 years since high-income countries committed to spending 0.7% of their gross national income on aid to low- and middle-income countries. This paper examines how aid has helped to improve the wellbeing of people in low- and middle-income countries.

For too long the EU’s migration policies have ignored the priorities of the countries it partners with for the sake of its own border security and domestic priorities. These have permeated the domestic migration and asylum policies of the Maghreb countries it supports, at the cost of people’s interests.

Over a decade ago, developed countries committed to mobilize $100bn per year by 2020 to support developing countries to adapt and reduce their emissions. The goal is a critical part of the Paris Agreement. As 2020 draws to a close, Oxfam’s Climate Finance Shadow Report 2020 offers an assessment of progress towards this goal.

Lebanon is extremely unequal and has been rocked by massive protests in recent months. The country is facing a financial crisis and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a potential bailout programme.

The coronavirus pandemic is leaving a trail of devastation in low-income countries. This briefing aims to shine a light on the debt owed to private creditors by five African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. It outlines the steps which the G20 needs to take immediately to avert further economic chaos. 

In July 2020 Oxfam warned that by the end of this year more people could die from hunger related to the COVID-19 pandemic than from the disease itself. But the response of the  international community to global food insecurity has been dangerously inadequate.