Press releases

Despite 800 people drowning off Lampedusa in the Mediterranean on this day last year, Europe is still failing to deal effectively with the migration crisis, said Oxfam in a new report today, “EU hotspots spread fear and doubt”.

The international community must act swiftly and decisively on the Malawi Government’s “declaration of emergency” where people are facing worsening hunger because of El Nino-related drought and country-wide crop failures.

Oxfam has deployed a three-person expert assessment team from the region to determine how it will respond to the major earthquake that struck on the evening of 16 April.

At the close of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Spring Meetings in Washington, Chris Stalker, Acting Head of Oxfam International’s Washington office, commented on the week's developments.

Oxfam is responding to a major earthquake off the coast of Ecuador. We will shortly be sending teams to the area to assess the extent of damage and how Oxfam can best assist the Government response.

Deportations of refugees and migrants from Greece to Turkey must be halted immediately and people wanting to seek asylum should not be kept in detention, said Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council and Solidarity Now today in Greece. 

“Today’s so-called ‘hammer blow’ against tax cheats misses. If the proposed registry of beneficial owners of companies and trusts is hidden from the public, how can we know who is hiding their profits and fortunes and trying to avoid paying their fair share?" said Susana Ruiz, Oxfam's tax policy expert.

“It’s great to hear tough talk from both Jim Kim and Christine Lagarde on ending tax havens. We’ve seen this happen time and time again: when the richest fail to pay their fair share, the budgets for education, health, and other social services that the poorest depend on, are the first to get slashed," said Chris Stalker, acting head of Oxfam International's Washington office.

The 50 biggest US companies have more than a trillion dollars hidden offshore according to a new report published by Oxfam today. This is more than the entire GDP of countries such as Spain, Mexico or Australia.

Development aid has reached an all-time high, but with 900 million people still living in extreme poverty much more needs to be done, says Oxfam.