Press releases

Somalia is suffering its worst drought in years and failed rains are already devastating half a million lives, international aid agency Oxfam warned today. An ongoing conflict in the country together with the drought has pushed hundreds of thousands of Somalis beyond their ability to cope.

Responding to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for the G20 to agree a tax on financial transactions to raise funds for international development, Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International Excecutive

International agency Oxfam today urged donors to contribute generously to the aid efforts in Sri Lanka. The UN Flash Appeal, to be officially launched later today, will support the Government’s response to the massive floods that have affected the eastern and central parts of the country.

Arms traffickers can too easily navigate the patchwork of national arms regulations, fuelling conflict while avoiding arrest and extradition, because of the lack of global regulation of the arms trade.

Many people are returning to their homes in flood-hit Sri Lanka but the humanitarian challenge has only just begun. Oxfam will be scaling up its response to the disaster in the next few days to reach 120,000 people in the Eastern and North Central Provinces.

International aid agency Oxfam has been providing support to thousands caught up in Sri Lanka’s devastating floods. More than a million people have been affected by the floods and need food items, water, blankets and hygiene kits immediately.

As the scale of the flood increases in the country, Oxfam continues to expand its rapid response in Eastern Sri Lanka, currently providing hygiene kits, tarpaulins, cooked food and bottled water to approximately 17,000 people in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts in the East.

Southern Sudan will face enormous challenges and will need long-term support from the rest of the world regardless of the outcome of this week’s referendum. The vote could create the world’s newest country, which would also be home to some of the world’s poorest people.

In a report released today, Oxfam called on the Haitian authorities, with support from the international community, to move forward on plans to start rebuilding the shattered country and enable close to one million people still living in tents and under tarpaulins to resettle or return home.

Number of people hit by Colombia’s worse flood in decades continues to rise

The number of people affected by the flood emergency in Colombia has risen by 50,000 people in the last two wee