Press releases

After an opening week, characterized by procedural delays and wrangling, this past week delegates finally got down to content discussions. However they still do not have the basis for negotiation on most of the key elements of the treaty.

One year after the declaration of famine in Somalia, a quarter of the country’s population are still surviving on humanitarian aid and over a million people could fall back into food crisis in the next two months.

In a passionate appeal to governments negotiating an Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations until the 27th July, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia called on them to “make history in the next few days and change the world for the better.”

Iconic artwork by graffiti artist Banksy has come to life to support an Oxfam campaign to regulate the weapons trade which kills one person every minute.

Tens of thousands of lives at risk with money for vital services set to run out in 2-3 months

Following a rapid assessment, Oxfam India is responding to unprecedented floods which have affected 2.4 million people and displaced half a million people so far in Assam.

Anna MacDonald Oxfam's Head of Control Arms Campaign

Oxfam Afghanistan's head of policy and advocacy, Louise Hancock, said:

Development gains made in Afghanistan over the last decade are in danger of being thrown away if levels of aid fall away in conjunction with the withdrawal of international troops in 2014.

One year after South Sudan’s independence on July 9, the young country is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of the war in 2005, under the weight of severe economic meltdown and ongoing conflict. Long-term and emergency efforts to help nearly half the population, who don’t have enough to eat, could be derailed by an economy out of control.