Press releases

The Greek government has said it intends to transfer 5,000 people from the Greek islands to the mainland before the start of winter. This is a very positive step that will save lives, but thousands remain at risk from freezing conditions and the Greek government and EU must end the containment policy immediately, Oxfam said.

Escalating clashes between forces aligned with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthis are trapping civilian populations across Yemen’s governorates and exacerbating an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.

Winnie Byanyima has accepted an offer from Oxfam’s Board of Supervisors to serve a second five-year term as Oxfam International’s Executive Director. 

The Greek government, with the support of EU leaders, should act now before the onset of winter to end Greece’s “containment policy,” 13 human rights and humanitarian organizations said in a campaign that began today.

On the sidelines of the AU-EU summit in Abidjan, the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union have announced they will put in place a joint task force to save the lives of migrants and refugees in Libya. But at the same time, European support for the Libyan coastguard contributes to stopping and returning people who are trying to escape the hell they are facing in Libya, a policy Oxfam condemns. 

The failure to agree to break the blockade of Yemen will ensure more misery is heaped onto millions of people who are running out of food, fuel, medicines and even clean water.

A proposal by the European Parliament’s industry committee on the use of biofuels risks increasing emissions in transport, pushing up global food prices and negatively impacting people around the world who live from the land, Oxfam and green NGO Transport & Environment warn.

The upcoming EU tax haven blacklist has to include at least 35 countries, including notorious tax havens such as Switzerland and Bermuda, in order to be effective, Oxfam finds in a new report published today. The analysis also shows that at least 4 EU countries would be blacklisted if the EU were to apply its own criteria to member states.

Refugees are still arriving, deeply traumatized by what they have experienced, and must have the right to choose for themselves whether they would like to return to Myanmar.