Press releases

New York: Today’s announcement by the USA of support for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was welcomed by Oxfam International and Amnesty International, warning that Washington’s support comes at a very high price. Giving any Member State veto power would weaken not strengthen future Treaty.

Afghanistan’s next government must urgently devote greater resources to building up to 6,000 new schools, training upwards of 5,000 new midwives and professionalizing the police force to improve the lives of ordinary Afghans, aid agencies working in Afghanistan said today.

The Congolese government’s military operation in eastern Congo, Kimia II, backed by UN peacekeepers and aimed at neutralizing the threat from a Rwandan Hutu militia group, the FDLR, has resulted in an unacceptable cost for the civilian population.

The US government’s plans to give every State a veto over a crucial arms trade treaty must be rejected by the British government as US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband are set to meet.

President Obama's leadership has succeeded in setting a new tone that has instilled hope.... Now it is most urgent that the US and all nations work together to secure a better future.

As the second to last negotiations before Copenhagen draw to a close in Bangkok, three big sticking points remain. These issues show a lack of willingness of the EU and other industrialised countries to find common ground with developing countries.

Climate negotiations stuck: US becoming key obstacle on the road to Copenhagen. Rich countries have not put serious money on the table to help poor countries adapt to the escalating impacts of climate change.

Just over a week after tsunami waves scoured the southern coast of Samoa, killing one per cent of the population and seriously affecting one out of every six people, the relief effort is still urgent. But recovery is not just about immediate relief – it is about longer-term development.

Major greenhouse gas emitters must help poor countries cope with climate change while recognizing the human rights and gender aspects of climate change, a panel of judges ruled at the Asian People’s Climate Court in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Oxfam and a coalition of NGOs reveal death toll reaches 2.1 million in three years of talks about talks. Talks to establish an effective international treaty on the trade in conventional arms are going at a snail’s pace because of some major arms exporters.