Conflict & Emergencies

 The UN Security Council (UNSC) is failing people living in conflict, with Russia and the United States particularly responsible for abusing their veto power which is blocking progress toward peace in Ukraine, Syria, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. Ahead of the UN Summit for the Future, Oxfam calls for reform of the UN Security Council to stop the “Permanent Five” from being their own “judge and jury”.

One year since conflict broke out in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, almost seven million people in Tigray and in neighboring Amhara and Afar are suffering from the toll of violence, human rights abuses, hunger, locusts, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

400,000 people in Gaza do not have access to regular water supply after 11 days of bombardment devastated electricity and water services and severely impacted the three main desalination plants in Gaza city , Oxfam warned today.

The conflict in Tigray compounded by climate-fueled locust infestations and coronavirus has left millions of people in desperate need of humanitarian aid yet access to those affected continues to be restricted, warned Oxfam today. 

More than a million women and girls in Burkina Faso are facing increased sexual violence, hunger and water shortage as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on top of the existing conflict, said Oxfam today.

Amidst the ongoing crisis on both sides of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, Rohingya women are actively supporting their rights and wellbeing, and those of their families and communities. However, their efforts are going unrecognized by those involved in delivering humanitarian assistance and developing political solutions to the crisis. This must change.

In reaction to the formation of a new South Sudanese unity government today, Elysia Buchanan, Oxfam South Sudan’s Campaign Manager said: “We welcome this decision as an important first step in South Sudan’s journey towards sustainable peace, but it cannot be the last. The country’s leaders must now work together to urgently end the suffering of 7.5 million South Sudanese facing a dire humanitarian crisis.

In response to the FSNAU announcement that areas of Somalia have shown some improvement, Oxfam's Country Director for Somalia, Senait Gebregziabher, said: