COVID-19

In response to the UN recently launched Global Humanitarian Overview, estimating some 235 million people across the globe will be in need of life-saving support in 2021, Oxfam and 6 aid agencies said it is vital that they have unhindered access to those most in need and humanitarian appeals are fully funded. 

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.

“Moderna’s discovery could be a real game-changer in the fight against COVID-19. However, on its own, Moderna can only produce enough vaccine for less than seven percent of the global population by the end of 2021, almost all of whom will be in rich countries," said Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, in response to the announcement today from the National Institutes of Health that early data shows Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective.

Over 1,000 health professionals from 66 countries have signed a letter urging the G20 to cancel the debt of developing countries, ahead of tomorrow’s extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers meeting.

Rich countries at the OECD ministerial meeting on development cooperation have failed to collectively commit to a massive scale-up in aid budgets to help developing countries face the devastating and widescale impact of COVID-19. 

In reaction to the UN Security Council's renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSU) today, Oxfam welcomed the decision but warned of the continued suffering of over 170,000 Sahrawi refugees in Algeria as the conflict marks its 45th year this October.

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.

"The failure to cancel debt payments will only delay the tsunami of debt that will engulf many of the world’s poorest countries, leaving them unable to afford the investment in healthcare and social safety nets so desperately needed", said Jaime Atienza, Oxfam International's Debt Policy Lead, in reaction to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

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. 

The threat of “COVID famines” and widespread extreme hunger are setting off every alarm bell within the international community, but so far sluggish funding of the UN's appeal is hampering humanitarian agencies’ efforts to deliver urgent assistance to people in need.