Press releases

Oxfam welcomes the action plan put forward today by the European Commission for the EU to catch up on its commitments towards the Millennium Development Goals. Member states must give their go-ahead at the EU summit in June.

More than 1.3 million people are displaced, dependant on emergency relief to survive. But dwindling contributions from the international community are forcing humanitarian organizations to close programs.

Poor countries are being forced to cut back on their economic crisis-response spending too soon. Education and social protection budgets are particularly badly affected. Oxfam is calling on the IMF to take steps to reverse this trend.

The World Development Indicators report released today by the World Bank shows that sub-Saharan Africa is off-target, overall, on all Millennium Development Goals. It lays bare the human cost of rich countries' failure to deliver on their aid promises.

A second Oxfam relief team has delivered supplies to 2,000 earthquake survivors in Qinghai. In addition, Oxfam will also be helping with public hygiene information campaigns and is flying in 600 tents.

Oxfam Hong Kong has distributed blankets for 2,000 survivors of the earthquake in a temporary camp in Yushu County, Qinghai. Yet, about 20,000 people are living in this camp, and the needs are urgent.

Oxfam has sent out two teams of aid experts to earthquake hit Quinhai and Sichuan provinces. The teams will be distributing 2,000 blankets and 2,000 rolls of plastic sheeting for emergency shelter.

An Oxfam-commissioned survey reveals that sixty percent of rape victims were gang raped. More than half of the assaults took place in their own homes. There has also been a shocking increase in the number of civilian rapists.

International agency Oxfam is preparing to send blankets and water proof sheeting as part of a $260,000 aid package to the earthquake hit area of Yushu County of south-eastern Qinghai Province in northwest China.

The 2009 overseas aid figures released today by the OECD show that rich countries are failing to deliver on their promises to poorer countries. The amount of aid has fallen by $3.5 billion when compared with last year’s prices.