Press releases

A staggering new poll has revealed that support for higher taxes on wealth is popular with dollar millionaires from across G20 countries. It comes as 260 millionaires and billionaires have signed a new letter demanding world leaders increase their taxes, to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The polling is part of the “Proud to Pay More” report, published alongside the letter, which profiles some of the world’s wealthiest people on why they support higher taxes on themselves.

The EU’s five richest billionaires increased their wealth by 76 percent since 2020, from 244 billion euro to 429 billion, at a rate of 5.7 million euros per hour, Oxfam reveals today. At the same time, 99 percent of the EU’s population has become poorer. These findings are based on Oxfam’s new report on inequality and global corporate power. The report also reveals that if current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade, but poverty will not be eradicated for another 229 years. 

The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020 —at a rate of $14 million per hour— while nearly five billion people have been made poorer, reveals a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty won’t be eradicated for another 229 years.

An Oxfam spokesperson said: “The last thing Yemen needs is further conflict. Oxfam calls on the United Kingdom, United States and all other parties to de-escalate immediately and continue to advance an inclusive political settlement in Yemen. 

Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day which massively exceeds the daily death toll of any other major conflict of recent years, Oxfam said today, as the escalation of hostilities nears its 100th day.

In reaction to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published today on Gaza warning of a risk of famine if intense hostilities and restricted humanitarian access persist or worsen, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director, said: “Gaza’s shocking descent into starvation was so predictable as to be premeditated, an ongoing war crime by the Government of Israel."

Today, EU negotiators have reached a long-awaited political agreement on the EU migration pact. In response, Stephanie Pope, Oxfam EU migration expert, said: “As we hear EU statements celebrating this deal, the question is, at what cost?"

In reaction to the UN Security Council’s passing of a watered-down resolution instead of calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Oxfam Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Sally Abi-Khalil said: “The failure to call for a ceasefire after five days of deliberate delays and dilutions of the resolution is incomprehensible and utterly callous. It is a profound dereliction of duty from an organization established to uphold the UN Charter to maintain peace and protect lives"

Responding to news that the EU has discarded at least 215 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Piotr Kolczyński, EU Health Policy Advisor at the People’s Vaccine Alliance and Oxfam, said: “This is further proof that the EU wasted millions of its COVID-19 vaccines, hoarded early in the pandemic, as it locked poorer countries out of access.

This week, EU negotiators are hammering out the final details of the long-awaited EU migration pact.

Ahead of the trilogues, Stephanie Pope, Oxfam EU migration expert, said: “The deal is nothing but a house of cards incapable of fixing the EU’s broken asylum system. After years of negotiation, we are left with a pact that ushers in increased detention, more pushbacks, and dubious deals with non-EU countries.