Press releases

More than half (57 percent) of the world’s poorest countries, home to 2.4 billion people, are having to cut public spending by a combined $229 billion over the next five years, reveals new analysis by Oxfam today ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Marrakech. 

All parties must immediately end this violence. Millions of innocent civilians are caught in the crosshairs of this escalation and are set to bear it's brunt.  

Responding to the recent wave of attacks in Ukraine which killed at least 52 people, Nicola Bay, Oxfam’s Organizational Lead in Ukraine said: "The attacks, which were near the operations being run by Oxfam and its partner organizations, will mean reaching those people already impacted by this war will be even more challenging."  

The COVID-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis were a windfall for the ultra-wealthy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), who saw their wealth almost double between 2019 and 2022, reveals an Oxfam report published today ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Marrakech. 

Over a third of the Yemeni population are facing extreme hunger, with rates of child malnutrition amongst the highest in the world. One year on from the expiration of the temporary peace agreement, Oxfam in Yemen is calling on all sides of the conflict to strive for a sustainable and inclusive peace, and for cuts to the international aid effort to be reversed. 

In response to the EU’s decision to extend the Temporary Protection Directive for refugees fleeing Ukraine, Nicola Bay, Lead of Oxfam’s Ukraine response, said:

This week, world leaders came together on the sidelines of the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit to urge for more global attention to addressing inequality. In a joint statement, they highlighted the urgency to save the inequality global goal (SDG10) and dramatically accelerate efforts to reduce inequality by adopting bolder targets and having more accurate tracking mechanisms.

The EU is in danger of violating global and EU aid rules by using aid to halt migration. This is according to Oxfam’s new report, From Development to Deterrence, which sheds light on how the EU employs its aid budget to outsource migration control to countries in Africa. The report reveals that 6 out of the 16 identified migration activities in Niger, Libya and Tunisia potentially breach aid rules. These 6 activities total €667 million, with the total funds analysed amounting to approximately €1 billion. 

Oxfam leaders, experts, and partners will be in New York for the UN General Assembly with a focus on the SDGs, inequality, climate, access to healthcare, humanitarian issues, and more. Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice and will bring this focus on inequality (Goal 10) and how it intersects with the entire 2030 agenda.

Today, the European Commission unveiled its proposal for a single EU corporate tax rulebook: BEFIT (Business in Europe – Framework for Business Taxation).