News & Media

As the announcement of 1 million South Sudanese refugees in Uganda was made today, Lydia Zigomo, the Oxfam Regional Director of the Horn, East and Central Africa, said:

“As long as the senseless, costly and brutal war in South Sudan continues, its people will continue to flee to find protection, food, water and shelter. More than anything they need peace at home. South Sudan’s neighbouring countries and the international community must honour their commitments to get South Sudan’s warring parties back to the negotiating table. Until then, it will not be safe for South Sudanese refugees to return home, forcing them to depend on aid across the border.

“Uganda’s open-door policy to refugees has provided protection for one million South Sudanese. This is the third-largest population of refugees in the world. Yet Uganda is one of the most under-funded host nations. If the international community does not increase support to Uganda’s refugee response it could quickly buckle and fail. Donor governments must urgently release funds critical in supporting refugees with life-saving aid, and long-term support for those who have already fled their country. ”

Donations to support Oxfam’s emergency responses in South Sudan and around the world can be made online here or by calling 0800 600 700.

Notes to editors:

The South Sudan refugee response in Uganda and across the region is severely underfunded. In Uganda, of the UN appeal for $673million this year, only 17 per cent has been received so far. At the recent Refugee Solidarity Summit the Government of Uganda appealed for $2billion to meet the humanitarian and development needs of all refugees in the country. Less than a quarter was pledged towards this with just $431.1million committed.

The vast majority of refugees – 86 per cent – are women and children who need specific support to keep them safe from rape, beatings, torture, hunger and abandonment.

Uganda is also a host country for refugees from DRC, Burundi, and CAR.

There are 1.94 million internally displaced people in South Sudan. 1 in 3 people have been forced from their home since December 2013. Almost 6 million people are in need of emergency aid. Oxfam is working from 10 bases across the country to get food, water and hygiene items to people. We have been working in Panyijar County, which is where many people from the famine-affected areas have fled. Oxfam is providing vouchers for canoes so that people sheltering from the conflict on islands in the swamps can get to the help they need. To help prevent diseases like cholera Oxfam is providing clean water, safe sanitation facilities and essential hygiene items. In South Sudan, Oxfam has provided regular emergency food distributions to over 415,000 people since February.

Fourteen leading New Zealand aid agencies are today launching a campaign to demand political action which will see New Zealand reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

Six weeks out from the General Election, Back the Plan: Back to Zero was launched with an open letter to political parties from coalition organisations Oxfam, World Vision New Zealand, ChildFund, TearFund, UNICEF, FairTrade, CWS, cbmi, VSA, SURFAID, Amnesty International, UNANZ, Engineers without Borders and Council for International Development.

The letter calls on all parties to follow the lead of countries like the UK and Denmark to put in place binding climate legislation, not only to safeguard New Zealand’s future, but that of communities in the developing world who are already on the frontline of climate change.

“There is widespread consensus that safeguarding our planet for future generations means significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Coalition spokesperson and Oxfam New Zealand Executive Director Rachael Le Mesurier.

“In our work with vulnerable communities, particularly in the Pacific, we are already seeing the negative impacts of more extreme weather events, temperature changes, rising sea levels and disease outbreaks associated with climate change. If unaddressed, climate change will displace and push millions of people further into poverty. For the sake of these vulnerable women, men and children, we, as an affluent developed nation, have a responsibility to act in a bold and meaningful manner.”

A zero carbon act will require any future Government to produce policy plans on track to zero carbon, and establish an independent Climate Commission to provide expert advice. Taking urgent action to combat climate change is a commitment New Zealand has signed up to internationally, both under the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The agencies also today warned that climate change threatens to unwind decades of hard-won development progress that New Zealand has contributed towards. While more than a billion dollars (60% of NZ government aid) will be directed to the Pacific through to 2019 – climate change is already reversing the positive gains and placing additional pressure on food security.

“The New Zealand government is rightly supporting development overseas, but it also makes sense for us to do our part in lowering carbon emissions at home,” added Le Mesurier. “We know that we need to reduce emissions globally to curb the effects of climate change. If we don’t play our part, we risk the great work we do in the developing world being undone by the impact of climate change.”

The aid agencies are working hard to reduce risks communities around the world face due to climate change and natural hazards. This includes disaster preparedness as storms become more intense, weather pattern changes threaten food security, and people face long-term loss of their homes.

Aid agency coalition: CWS| Tearfund| cbmi| Oxfam| World Vision| ChildFund| VSA|UNICEF| UNANZ|Fairtrade| SurfAid| Amnesty International|Council for International Development | ewb|

Join thousands of New Zealanders and demand real climate action from our government and Back the Plan: Back to Zero. Sign the Oxfam petition

A new natural disaster simulation event – the first of its kind in New Zealand – has just been launched by international aid agency Oxfam, in association with Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management, to raise money for Oxfam’s humanitarian work in the Pacific.

Operation Oxfam is a unique challenge that will see teams of four show off their survival skills in a simulated emergency response, with the most effective survival solutions taking home the crown.

Participants must combine brains and brawn using limited supplies to build shelter, water (capture and storage) and a toilet, all vital elements for surviving a natural disaster before aid arrives.

The event is designed to emulate challenges faced in the immediate aftermath of a disaster such as a cyclone, earthquake or tsunami.

Fundraising Events Manager at Oxfam, Amanda Wright, said she was delighted to launch the country’s first emergency simulation charity event. “Operation Oxfam offers the public an opportunity to experience first-hand some of the challenges people face in the aftermath of a natural disaster. As well as putting your survival skills to the test you’ll be contributing to Oxfam’s vital emergency response and disaster risk reduction work, making sure we can continue to support communities around the Pacific who need it most.”

Craig Glover, Head of Strategy and Planning for Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management said the Operation Oxfam event is a fantastic reminder to Aucklanders to have a think about how they might react in a natural disaster.

“While it might seem daunting, we all need to have plan. Having a chat with your loved ones about what you might do if there’s a natural disaster while you are at work, home or out and about is a really simple way you can be prepared.”

Oxfam is one of the world’s leading providers of humanitarian aid in emergencies, with well-recognised expertise and a strong reputation for scale, speed, and innovation. Fundraising efforts from Operation Oxfam will go towards life-saving assistance for people affected by natural disasters, as well as supporting communities’ long-term recovery and resilience to future disasters.

Operation Oxfam will take place in Auckland on 14 October during Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management’s Get Ready Week. You can register your team and find out more information at the Operation Oxfam website.

Photo: Rodney Dekker/Oxfam

The Tunisian Parliament, on July 26th 2017, adopted a new law for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including domestic violence.

In response, Soufia Galand, Oxfam Country Office Tunisia Gender Justice Officer, said:

“The revolution is still alive and it has added a feminist milestone to its path!

This week, women and men from different political parties – from left to right, religious and secular – stood up together to say that violence against women and girls is unacceptable, and that we all have a responsibility to end this atrocious violation of women’s rights.

Through this law, the State shifted the blame from the woman survivor of violence to the perpetrator, and ended the shameful right for a rapist to marry the woman he has raped. It also explicitly condemns women’s economic exploitation including discrimination against women in pay. The law has new criminal provisions and penalties as well as various preventive measures. With this law, we finally put the needs and rights of women and girls who have experienced violence at the center of the State’s response.

To all the survivors of violence who have spoken out, to all the feminist activists and organizations that campaigned for decades for this law, to every Tunisian who stood up and said ‘Enough to violence against women and girls’: today we are a bit safer – thanks to you.

This law is a critical milestone achieved by the feminist struggle and revolution. More milestones are yet to be achieved while ensuring the translation of these commitments on paper to reality, including the review of the family code, monitoring the implementation of the law and ensuring the modelling of positive gender norms.

For Oxfam, the adoption of the new law is a reflection of the momentum to be the change we want to see. We will continue our effort, together with our partners, to take this law into its greatest potentials, to challenging and changing the social norms that perpetuate and condone abuse, and mobilize people to stand together to say ‘Enough to violence against women and girls’. We will ensure our ‘Enough’ call continues to be heard in Parliament and in everyday life, so that once and for all we can truly end violence against women and girls.”

Notes to editors:
Oxfam spokespeople are available for interview in Tunisia.

In November 2016, Oxfam launched a global campaign called “Enough: Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls”.

The number of people with cholera in Yemen is now the largest ever in any country in a single year since records began, Oxfam said today. At over 360,000 suspected cholera cases in just three months since the outbreak started, it is now already the largest number of cases in a year, topping the previous annual record of 340,311 in Haiti in 2011.

Though there are signs that the increase in numbers is slowing, the country’s rainy season from July to September will increase the risk of the disease spreading further. It is feared that the total number of people infected could eventually rise to over 600,000, making it one of the largest outbreak since records began in 1949.

Almost 2,000 people in Yemen have died from suspected cholera since late April this year and many more are now at risk, weakened by hunger, disease and the ongoing war.

Nigel Timmins, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director who has just returned back from a fact finding mission to Yemen, said:

“It is quite frankly staggering that in just three months more people in Yemen have contracted cholera than any country has suffered in a single year since modern records began. Cholera has spread unchecked in a country already on its knees after two years of war and which is teetering on the brink of famine. For many people, weakened by war and hunger, cholera is the knockout blow.

“This is a massive crisis needing a massive response – if anything the numbers we have are likely to underestimate the scale of the crisis. So far funding from government donors to pay for the aid effort has been lacklustre at best, less than half is what is needed.

“Cholera is easy to treat and simple to prevent. We need a massive well coordinated effort to get clean water and decent sanitation to people and simple things like soap to keep them safe from disease. We need an end to country entry restrictions of supplies and people so that we can get on with the job.

“The war has destroyed the economy and left millions without jobs or the means to earn a living and forced 3 million people to flee their homes. It has precipitated a crisis which has left 7 million people on the brink of starvation. And the war has destroyed or damaged more than half the country’s health facilities and ushered in one of the world’s worst cholera outbreaks in over 50 years.

“Vital public servants such as health workers have not been paid for nearly a year. Hospitals, ports, roads and bridges have been bombed. All this is crippling efforts to tackle the cholera crisis.

“Those countries providing the arms and military support, such as the US and the UK, are fuelling a war that is causing wide-spread suffering and tipping a whole nation towards a catastrophe. It is hard to imagine how much more Yemen can take before it collapses entirely.”

War has had a devastating effect on Yemen’s people and its infrastructure – almost 5,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting and parts of the country stand on the brink of famine. Health, water and sanitation systems have been bombed to the point of collapse leaving over 15 million people without adequate access to clean drinking water and safe sanitation. Millions more are hungry and need help in getting a decent meal.

Waste is piling up on the streets and in the settlements of displaced people because sanitation services, severely damaged by the two year war, cannot cope. Aid agencies tackling the cholera crisis are in danger of being overwhelmed by the scale of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the world’s major arms exporters – which include the UK and US – are making more money from arming the Saudi led coalition force than they are spending on Yemen’s humanitarian appeal. In 2016, Saudi Arabia spent nearly $3 billion on arms from the world’s major arms exporters. As of this month, many of those same governments had given just $620 million toward the $2.1 billion UN appeal for Yemen.

Oxfam is calling for an immediate cease-fire to enable a nationwide cholera campaign to tackle the disease unhindered by fighting and allow people to get their lives back together. It is calling for the opening of ports and Sanaa airport to allow a massive injection of aid and for the UN and aid agencies’ appeal to be fully funded.

Notes to editors:

Footage available on request

Figures of previous cholera outbreaks taken from the World Health Organisation’s Global Health Observatory data repository
http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.175?lang=en

From 27 April to 18 July 2017, 362,545 suspected cholera cases and 1,817 deaths (CFR: 0.5%) have been reported in 91.3% (21/23) of Yemen governorates, and 88% (293/333) of the districts. YEMEN: Cholera Outbreak Daily epidemiology update 19 July 2017  WHO
http://www.emro.who.int/yem/yemeninfocus/situation-reports.html

The largest outbreak since modern records began was in Haiti where the total number of cholera cases reached 754,373 between 2010 and 2015.