human rights

Lesbia is the third Honduran activist killed in less than six months. Honduran authorities need to end impunity, end the killings of women, and to guarantee the safety of all human rights defenders.

Oxfam is deeply shocked to hear the news of Jo Cox's death. Our thoughts and sympathies are with Brendan and Jo's family at this difficult time. Jo was a passionate advocate on humanitarian issues, we will miss her.

With its new ‘migration compact’, the EU rewriting its foreign policy so that it serves the single objective of stopping people from coming to Europe, Oxfam said.

The Dutch Development Finance Company (FMO) and Finland’s Finnfund, two of the development banks backing the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project in Honduras, yesterday announced they would seek an exit to their involvement in the project. Today’s announcements are important in bringing us one step closer to finally shutting down the tainted Agua Zarca project.

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”.

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. 

Oxfam has today suspended all of its operations in the Moria camp, on the Greek island of Lesvos, in response to the deteriorating treatment of migrants due to the recent deal struck between the EU and Turkey. The Greek authorities are transforming reception facilities into detention centers, where people will be held pending their mass return to Turkey.

In response to billions of dollars being pledged by governments today to help Syrians engulfed in the country's conflict, Andy Baker, Regional Program Manager for Oxfam's Syria crisis response said: "The London conference is a potential turning point. But while money for aid is vital, it will not solve the crisis."

It is shameful that members of the Human Rights Council prioritized perceived geo-strategic interests above the need for accountability and failed today to establish an international independent mechanism to investigate breaches of these laws.

Oxfam is alarmed and deeply concerned by reports of eyewitness accounts of targeted rape and killing of civilians, including children. The deliberate targeting of civilians and the destruction of homes and hospitals is in clear contravention of international law.