Oxfam stunt in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, calling for EU policies as part of the campaign ‘food not fuel’.
The European Union office of Oxfam International is based in Brussels. We advocate for EU policies that fight the inequality keeping people locked in a cycle of poverty.
We want just and fairer economies. We strive for gender justice and for the rights of women and girls in all their diversity. We fight for climate justice and create safe spaces that allow people to hold the powerful to account. Rooted in communities, we tackle the causes and consequences of disaster and conflict.
Oxfam had a fleet of campaigning adbikes and pedicabs at the COP26 demo as part of the global day of action for Climate Justice on the 6th of November, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo: Andy Aitchison/Oxfam)
Europe must lead on climate action
Oxfam advocates for the EU to step up its climate action. It must fulfil its promise to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, increase funding for international action to fight the climate emergency and not promote false climate solutions which fuel hunger by incentivising the use of land to produce bioenergy.
Oxfam advocates for the EU to be a global champion for civic space.
Civic space enables people to speak out against power. When civic space is open, people can protest peacefully, mobilise around important issues, express their needs and concerns, and propose and negotiate solutions, as well as hold those in power accountable. Yet, around the world, civic space is shrinking. For the first time since 2004, the world counts more autocracies than democracies. Oxfam wants the EU to promote, protect and enable civic space worldwide.
The EU is creating new rules to make large companies police their global value chains for environmental and human rights risks. While this is a step in the right direction, the current proposal is a far cry from what is needed. Oxfam is advocating for these rules to must make companies accountable for the damage they cause people and the planet.
Natalia Kyselova at Oxfam's partner Rural Women's Business Network (RWBN) greenhouse. The purpose of the RWBN is to protect the rights and interests of rural women, to support their empowerment, equal economic participation, leadership, access to education and health care, and participation in local governments’ decision making processes. (Photo: Kieran Doherty/Oxfam)
Advancing Gender Justice in EU Foreign Policy
The EU and EU countries must commit to a feminist foreign policy. This means an intersectional feminist approach which puts gender, racial, economic and climate justice at its heart, prioritises decolonisation and puts the voices of those who have historically been least represented and are often most impacted at the centre of policymaking.
Read about Oxfam's work advocating for an EU feminist foreign policy.
While the EU plays an important role in addressing global health challenges, in many ways, its internal and external policies contribute to inequality in accessing healthcare and medical products. Oxfam advocates for the EU to play its part in universal access to healthcare and reduce the structural dependence on aid.
Read more about Oxfam's work advocating for equal access to healthcare.
The global food system is broken. It perpetuates hunger and poverty and widens the gap between the rich and the poor. Oxfam calls on the EU to support fairer and more sustainable food systems. It can start by strengthening food production at a local level in poorer countries and promoting the rights of farmers, especially women farmers, who are key in the fight against hunger and poverty.
Read about Oxfam's work in influencing the EU to fix the global food system.
Some of the children and grandchildren of María Isabel Cortés and Benjamín Peña sitting on the porch of their home. (Photo: Samuel Nacar/Oxfam Intermón)
A Relaunch of EU-Latin America Relations
The EU must relaunch its relationship with Latin America (LAC) by putting the region higher on the EU's agenda. Oxfam wants to centre ending inequality in LAC - the world’s most unequal region - in this relaunch. Europe and Latin America can be real partners in fighting for democracy, protecting civic space, ensuring tax justice as well as respect for human rights, sustainability, social and gender justice, and multilateralism.
Oxfam advocates for the EU to contribute to a fairer tax system to reduce inequality between the rich and poor. Making the super-rich and the most profitable corporations pay their fair share, as well as ending tax havens, are essential to achieving a fairer tax system.
EU development aid is for ending poverty, reducing inequality, and promoting gender justice. Oxfam advocates for the EU to make sure that aid serves these ends and that there is enough money in the aid pot to do so.
Read more about Oxfam's work to influence the EU's development aid policies.
Nadiya Vasylivna received a latrine from Oxfam as part of its response to the Ukraine conflict, which includes repairing water and sanitation facilities, distributing hygiene kits, and providing essential non-food items in war-affected areas. (Photo: Kieran Doherty/Oxfam)
Putting People First in Conflict and Crisis
The EU stands as one of the world’s largest and most principled humanitarian aid donors in the world. It prioritises the humanitarian needs over political agendas. But humanitarian needs around the world are outpacing available funding.
Oxfam advocates that the EU take the right response in humanitarian crises, be they natural disasters or conflicts, while maintaining momentum in reforming processes for an effective humanitarian response that is locally-led and ensuring international law is always upheld.
Read about Oxfam's work to influence the EU to put people first in conflict and crises.
Oxfam advocates for the EU and EU countries to work together to make rules that fairly share the responsibility for welcoming people across Europe and to end the daily pushbacks and rights violations at Europe’s borders.
Moreover, the EU must stop striking up dysfunctional and untransparent migration deals with non-EU countries in an attempt to outsource its responsibilities. At a time of multiple interlinking global crises, the EU must ensure that already scarce aid is used to end poverty and boost partner countries’ economies, not to end migration and boost borders.
Read more about Oxfam's work on influencing the EU's migration and asylum response.
Contact information
Oxfam International EU Office | Mundo Madou, Avenue des Arts 7-8, 1210 Brussels | Belgium
Tel: + 32 2 329 01 50
For general enquiries: eu@oxfam.org
For media enquiries: eumedia@oxfam.org
Twitter: @OxfamEU
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oxfam-international-eu-advocacy/