Leaders from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean will meet next week in Brussels for the first time in almost a decade. 

Latin American societies live on a permanent state of economic, social and political polarisation due to the impact of a major inequality crisis in which wealth is highly concentrated, and democracy and natural resources are captured for the benefit of the few. This July, the European Union (EU), under a Spanish presidency that has pushed for a high-level summit between the two regions, has the opportunity to renew the political dialogue, the economic relations and the cooperation agenda so that they can help building new social pacts focused on equality, environmental protection and human rights.

722 of the world’s biggest corporations together raked in over $1 trillion in windfall profits each year for the past two years amid soaring prices and interest rates, while billions of people are having to cut back or go hungry. 

On June 6th, the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, located about 70 km east of Kherson, Ukraine, was severely damaged by explosions, leading to widespread flooding and triggering a massive humanitarian and environmental crisis. One month on, Oxfam’s priority is still to ensure the safety of the affected communities. We are working in close collaboration with our local partners, who are at the forefront of the response efforts.

Responding to the attack that took place in Kramatorsk on the evening of Thursday 27 June which resulted in the killing of at least 11 people, including three children, and a continuing search for survivors, Nicola Bay, Organizational Lead for Oxfam’s Ukraine response said: “Oxfam strongly condemns this attack. Innocent civilians, including children, should not pay the price for this war." 
 

Development finance institutions owned by European governments and the World Bank Group are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive for-profit hospitals in the Global South that block patients from getting care, or bankrupt them, with some even imprisoning patients who cannot afford their bills.