Press releases

Today, African Union and European Union leaders discussed the global vaccine rollout and calls to support the current proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO), tabled by India and South Africa and backed by 100 countries, to temporarily suspend intellectual property rules for COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments. 
 

Today, EU countries at the AU-EU Summit, failed to make concrete commitments to reallocate their portion of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to low and middle-income countries. Instead, they simply reiterated the broad voluntary commitment made at the G20 last year.  

In response to the announcement of the withdrawal of the Barkhane military operation and the Takuba forces from Mali, Oxfam's West Africa Regional Director, Assalama Dawalack Sidi said: "The withdrawal is a terrible admission of failure. Nearly ten years of military operations in the country have solved nothing as much of the Central Sahel continues to be plagued by conflict." 

Europe has betrayed Africa by blocking proposals which would allow manufacturers on the continent to make their own COVID-19 vaccines while hoarding millions of doses which are set to expire at the end of the month, warns the People’s Vaccine Alliance ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of African and European leaders at the AU-EU Summit. 

Responding to the announcement that BioNTech plans to ship mobile vaccine factory containers to Africa, which could start producing vaccines in the second half of 2023, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said: 

“Efforts to boost vaccine manufacturing in Africa are welcome but this is a long-term project and should not distract from the failure of rich country governments and companies, including Germany and BioNTech, to tackle today’s shameful vaccine inequality responsible for millions of needless deaths in poorer countries from this pandemic.
 

In response to the statement issued today by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee, which says that countries will be able to count donations of unwanted vaccine doses as part of their foreign aid commitment, for a guideline cost of $6.72 a dose, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said: “This guidance is a double insult to the world’s poorest countries. Firstly, rich countries bought up many more doses than they could use at a time of limited supply, preventing millions of people in developing countries from getting life-saving vaccines. Now they are free to charge any donations of unwanted doses to their aid budgets, to the detriment of other essential aid spending." 

Oxfam and its humanitarian partner organizations are providing humanitarian support including cash, food, clean water and sanitation to people recovering from multiple cyclones that have torn across Southern Africa in the past two weeks.

Figures released today show licences worth at least £42.6 million were issued for arms exports to Saudi Arabia between July and September last year, many of which will be used in the war in Yemen. Since the conflict escalated, nearly seven years ago, over four million people have been forced from their homes with over 19,000 civilian casualties. 

At the AU-EU Summit, African Union and European Union leaders will meet to discuss cooperation between the AU and the EU “based on shared interests and values.” The summit will take place during the French EU Presidency and the French government has indicated a high level of ambition in terms of outcomes.  

“People have become complacent about COVID-19. Our global (health) funds are fast running out of money. Vaccine inequity is getting worse,” said former UK prime minister Gordon Brown today.