Category Archives: Oxfam

‘A colonial mindset’: why global aid agencies need to get out of the way

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With the world’s humanitarian system in crisis, many NGOs now recognise that local charities can deliver much more at far less cost

Before civil war engulfed her Ethiopian home region of Tigray in 2020, Tsega Girma was a prosperous trader who sold stationery and other goods. But when hungry children displaced by the conflict started appearing in the streets, she sold everything and used the proceeds to buy them food.

After that money dried up, Tsega appealed to Tigray’s diaspora for donations. At the height of the war, her Emahoy Tsega Girma Charity Foundation provided meals to 24,000 children a day.

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Dividends payments soar globally as worker pay stagnates

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Shareholder payouts grew 14 times faster than wages over past three years, says Oxfam report

Shareholders have proved to be more successful at securing bumper payouts than workers have at winning higher pay, according to two studies that show dividends outstripping wages by a considerable margin in recent years.

Oxfam said analysis of global data showed that dividend payments to shareholders over the last three years grew an average of 14 times faster than worker pay across 31 major economies.

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UK aid budget cuts are ‘death sentence’ for world’s most vulnerable children

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Save the Children and Oxfam urge government to restore aid budget back to 0.7% of national income

UK aid cuts are a “death sentence” for children in the world’s most dangerous places, aid charities have warned after an internal government report revealed the impact of budget reductions on the most vulnerable.

The government faced calls from NGOs including Save the Children and Oxfam to restore the aid budget back to 0.7% of national income, after the potential effects of cuts were outlined in grim detail by an assessment produced by civil servants.

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M&S offers money off children’s clothes in exchange for used school uniforms

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Promotion is designed to help parents who are struggling to afford clothes amid cost of living crisis

Families are being offered money off children’s clothes in Marks & Spencer if they donate school uniform hand-me-downs, as part of a push designed to help parents struggling to afford them amid the cost of living crisis.

The second-hand uniform collected will be sold via Oxfam’s high street chain as well as via a new “back-to-school” eBay shop. The tie-up is an extension of M&S’s existing “shwopping” partnership with Oxfam, in which customers drop off old clothing in exchange for loyalty card perks.

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UK aid should not fund private hospitals in developing countries, says Oxfam

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Development charity says patients denied treatment or held hostage until fees paid in private facilities in India and Kenya

Private hospitals in India and Kenya accused of refusing people on low incomes vital healthcare, or holding them hostage until bills have been paid, benefit from UK government investment funds, according to a report by Oxfam.

Investments worth hundreds of millions of pounds by government-backed agencies are used to facilitate the “impoverishment and even the imprisonment of the very people [the private hospitals] are supposed to be helping”, said the development charity.

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Watchdog considers action over Oxfam cartoon of anti-trans ‘hate groups’

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Oxfam International apologised and re-edited cartoon alleged to include racial stereotyping and JK Rowling attack

The UK charities watchdog is assessing whether it will take action against Oxfam after receiving complaints about a cartoon published by the charity that ignited a row about transgender issues.

Oxfam International put the cartoon out on Twitter last week to mark pride month, but took it down on Tuesday after a backlash against its use of the term Terf (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) in an image depicting anti-trans “hate groups”.

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Yemen: 87 civilians killed by UK and US weapons in just over a year

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Oxfam says its analysis of January 2021 to February 2022 underlines need for UK to stop arming Saudi Arabia

At least 87 civilians were killed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen using weapons supplied by the UK and US between January 2021 and February 2022, according to a new Oxfam analysis.

The charity accused the UK government of ignoring an identifiable “pattern of harm” caused by the indiscriminate bombing – and argues it amounts to legal grounds for Britain to end elements of its lucrative arms trade with Riyadh.

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Half of poorest countries have cut health spending despite Covid, says Oxfam

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Analysis of budgets finds rich nations, including UK, ‘exacerbated explosion of economic inequality’

Many of the world’s poorest countries have cut health spending during the last two years, sometimes to make debt repayments to rich creditors, according to a report by Oxfam that shows inequality between rich and poor nations worsening during the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysis of national budgets across 161 nations found that despite the biggest global health emergency in a century, half of low- and lower-middle-income countries cut health spending, while almost half cut their welfare budgets and almost three-quarters cut education spending.

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Failure to extend Yemen ceasefire leaves millions at risk, say charities

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International organisations cite 60% fall in civilian casualties over six months, but critics say benefits of truce have been exaggerated

The expiry of a six-month ceasefire in Yemen has thrust the country back into war after limited improvements in humanitarian conditions, according to analysts.

Charities have criticised the failure to extend beyond Sunday the truce that was first agreed in April, and which they said had created hope for Yemenis. Although critics have said it created only a temporary stop in fighting that allowed the Houthi rebels to strengthen.

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Extreme hunger soaring in world’s climate hotspots, says Oxfam

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Charity says 19 million people facing starvation in report highlighting link with extreme weather

Extreme hunger is closely linked to the climate crisis, with many areas of the world most affected by extreme weather experiencing severe food shortages, research has shown.

The development charity Oxfam examined 10 of the world’s worst climate hotspots, afflicted by drought, floods, severe storms and other extreme weather, and found their rates of extreme hunger had more than doubled in the past six years.

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Quarter of a billion people now face extreme poverty, warns Oxfam

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Charity calls for debt cancellations for poorest countries to counter ‘worst collapse into poverty and suffering in memory’

The rising price of food caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and increased energy costs could push a quarter of a billion more people into extreme poverty, Oxfam has warned.

The charity said these new challenges had piled on to the economic crises created by Covid, and called for urgent international action, including cancelling debt repayments for poorer countries.

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UK government accused of ignoring victims in efforts to tackle ‘sex for aid’

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Foreign office’s ‘top-down’ approach failing people it is seeking to protect, says watchdog, with abuse cases still underreported

The British government has not listened to victims in its efforts to tackle abuse in the humanitarian sector after the “sex for aid” scandals, a UK watchdog has said.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai) said the government was falling short because of a “top-down” approach and needed to listen and learn from recipients of aid who remained reluctant to report abuse allegations.

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Covid created 20 new ‘pandemic billionaires’ in Asia, says Oxfam

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While wealthiest got richer, 140m people fell into poverty as jobs were lost, wiping out years of gains for poorest, report finds

Twenty new “pandemic billionaires” have been created in Asia thanks to the international response to Covid-19, while 140 million people across the continent were plunged into poverty as jobs were lost during the pandemic, according to Oxfam.

A report by the aid organisation says that by March 2021, profits from the pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and services needed for the Covid response had made 20 people new billionaires as lockdowns and economic stagnation destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of others.

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Tigray ceasefire: aid workers demand telecoms be restored

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Lack of phone and internet hampering humanitarian efforts in war-torn Ethiopian province, UN warns

Humanitarian organisations in Ethiopia are demanding that phone lines and internet are restored to the troubled northern province of Tigray, warning that the ceasefire declared by Addis Ababa this week will only help alleviate famine if aid workers can operate safely.

Since the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) withdrew from Mekelle, Tigray’s capital, on Monday, all telecommunications have been down, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). Unicef said ENDF personnel had entered its office and dismantled crucial satellite equipment.

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Climate crisis to shrink G7 economies twice as much as Covid-19, says research

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G7 countries will lose $5tn a year by 2050 if temperatures rise by 2.6C

The economies of rich countries will shrink by twice as much as they did in the Covid-19 crisis if they fail to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions, according to research.

The G7 countries – the world’s biggest industrialised economies – will lose 8.5% of GDP a year, or nearly $5tn wiped off their economies, within 30 years if temperatures rise by 2.6C, as they are likely to on the basis of government pledges and policies around the world, according to research from Oxfam and the Swiss Re Institute.

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Oxfam GB released from supervision by watchdog after Haiti scandal reforms

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Charity made changes after 2019 earthquake response report found allegations of child sexual misconduct by staff weren’t properly investigated

Oxfam will no longer be subject to strict supervision by the charity watchdog following “significant” reforms prompted by a 2019 report into conduct by its staff after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales found allegations that staff working in disaster zones sexually abused children were not fully disclosed, with the watchdog also citing a “culture of poor behaviour” among Oxfam GB staff sent to help victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

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World Bank ‘missed vital opportunities’ to support Covid response, says Oxfam

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Millions forced to do without or pay for services as funding fails to adequately shore up healthcare systems, report finds

Millions of people in low-income countries have been forced to go without healthcare or have had to pay for it during the coronavirus pandemic, despite billions of pounds in emergency World Bank funding, research has found.

The World Bank’s $6bn (£4.45bn) emergency health fund to 71 countries in response to Covid-19 failed to strengthen health systems or remove financial barriers to using them, according to an Oxfam report published on Friday.

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Trump could label Oxfam and Amnesty antisemitic over criticism of Israel

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Trump administration reportedly considering move against organisations that documented Israeli rights abuses

The Trump administration is reportedly considering labelling a number of leading international humanitarian organisations as antisemitic after they documented Israeli rights abuses against Palestinians, including settlement building in the occupied territories.

The groups include the UK-based Amnesty International and Oxfam as well as the US organisation Human Rights Watch. Amnesty International accused the Trump administration, and the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, of attempting “to silence and intimidate international human rights organisations”.

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Climate finance driving poor countries deeper into debt, says Oxfam

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Countries that did least to cause crisis having to take loans to protect themselves, says charity

Billions of dollars are being loaned on high-interest terms to poor countries seeking help to cope with the impacts of climate breakdown, according to an Oxfam report.

The loan terms risk storing up debt burdens lasting far into the future, the charity says.

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