Publications & Reports
A new approach is needed to risk and poverty reduction - one that challenges the inequality that exposes poor people to far more risk than the rich.
High and rising food prices are no longer a surprise, but rapid price changes and the cumulative effects of five years of price rises are still squeezing people on low incomes: people are working harder and longer but wages are not keeping pace with inflation, so they are adapting where and how they can.
Systemic problems are locking-in low wages for tea workers in countries around the world. Oxfam and the Ethical Tea Partnership's report outlines the challenges and what can be done.
The human cost of Syria’s conflict has risen beyond all expectations. In January 2013, the UN predicted 1.1 million refugees by June. As of April 2013, there are already 1.3 million. Inside Syria itself, 6.8 million people struggle in urgent need of assistance.
The 2012 humanitarian response to the food crisis in the Sahel was bigger and better than previous crises, but millions of people still missed out on vital assistance, and remain vulnerable today.
The rush to invest in farmland in Africa is having an immediate impact on women’s land-use options, on their livelihoods, on food availability and the cost of living, and, ultimately, on women’s access to land for food production.
These are only the economic impacts. Women’s knowledge, socio-cultural relationship with the land, and stewardship of nature are also under threat. Too often ignored, rural women’s voices and perspectives need to be heeded urgently if a robust rural economy and food for all are to be guaranteed.
Arms and bullets continue to destroy lives. Every continent in the world is marred by devastation caused by armed violence. Yet there is still no effective international regulation of the global arms trade. Negotiators at the second and final Diplomatic Conference in March 2013 must deliver a treaty text that holds countries to the highest standards.
Even in the aftermath of South Sudan’s birth as an independent republic, large parts of the country are still plagued by violence and insecurity. According to UN estimates, 350,000 people were newly displaced in South Sudan in 2011 as a result of regional violence[i], including fighting among the SPLA, new militia groups and the Sudan Armed Forces in contested regions; inter-tribal violence; and attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army in western regions of the country. Such instability continues to threaten the people’s safety and livelihoods.
Women in Zimbabwe are under-represented and under-protected in the labour force and face barriers to land ownership and resource control, particularly for those in rural areas bound by customary laws. Economic and political crises of recent years have had a heightened impact on women, who are overrepresented among the poor, have culturally restricted access to resources and opportunities, and are vulnerable to violence, in the home, the community and in the political arena.
Over the past century, powerful food and beverage companies have enjoyed unprecedented commercial success. But these companies have grown prosperous while the millions who supply the land, labor and water needed for their products face increased hardship.
Oxfam visited communities in Nigeria, Brazil, Ivory Coast and Indonesia to speak with cocoa farmers and workers about the particular challenges they face in a supply chain that feeds some of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world.
Oxfam’s Behind the Brands scorecard shows major gaps in the policies of the “Big 10” food and beverage companies when it comes to protecting and promoting women’s rights.
The commitment of governments is urgently needed to expedite the implementation of existing frameworks to eliminate all forms of violence against women (VAW). This Oxfam policy paper outlines a proposal for a comprehensive international action plan that addresses this issue politically, with time-bound targets and explicit accountability mechanisms.
An explosion in extreme wealth and income is exacerbating inequality and hindering the world’s ability to tackle poverty. The $240 billion net income in 2012 of the richest 100 billionaires would be enough to make extreme poverty history four times over.
As the third anniversary of the January 2010 earthquake, which brought so much destruction to Haiti, approaches, this briefing note highlights the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians still living in camps and still without adequate housing. Against this backdrop, displaced Haitians now face persistent and worsening threats of, often violent, eviction from landowners eager to get their land back. It is vital that national and international attention be brought to bear on this serious problem, so that the rights of displaced people can be properly protected.
