Press releases

Amongst the over 20 targets being discussed at the COP15 Biodiversity Summit is to set aside 30 percent of the world's lands and oceans for nature to protect biodiversity by 2030. However, states have so far failed to commit to protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and those of local communities living in these areas.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) figures for Somalia, shows that Somalia remains on the brink of famine. 5.6 million people are now in crisis or worse levels of food insecurity and this is expected to rise to 6.4 million by March 2023, and 8.3 million by June 2023. By June 2023, the number of people in catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC Phase 5) is expected to double to 727,000.

Today, the EU reached a provisional agreement on a new carbon tariff on goods imported into Europe (the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism).

After months of deadlock, EU countries reached an agreement on a low-rate minimum tax for multinational profits at the EU level. This follows a deal struck at the international level to implement a global minimum tax.  

Tomorrow, European migration ministers are set to meet to discuss a proposal to erode EU asylum standards. The so-called Instrumentalisation Regulation allows European countries to ignore EU asylum law if they think that non-EU countries or others are using migration to put pressure on Europe.  

Today, EU finance ministers again failed to agree on an EU minimum tax for multinational companies. This follows a deal struck at the international level to implement a global minimum tax. 

More than half the population of South Sudan – 6.6 million people – are severely hungry, including 2.2 million people at risk of starvation. Yet the humanitarian response remains woefully underfunded and without an urgent increase in aid now, 7.7 million people or two-thirds of the population will face severe food shortages next year, Oxfam warned today.

Today, European justice ministers agreed on a proposal for a law to make companies accountable for the damage they cause to people and the planet.

In reaction to today’s UN 2023 Global Humanitarian Outlook report, revealing that 339 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid - the highest caseload in history -  Oxfam’s Global Humanitarian Director Marta Valdes Garcia said: “One in every 23 people around the world –the equivalent of nearly half of the entire population of Europe– is now in urgent need of humanitarian aid. This news must be an immediate wake-up call. 

Today, the European Commission published its EU Global Health Strategy. This document sets out the EU’s global vision for funding and international cooperation in relation to health.