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Reports

Holding the Line: WASH Systems, Risk and Resilience in the Rohingya Response

Read full report – Holding the Line: WASH Systems, Risk and Resilience in the Rohingya Response here.

This publication looks beyond the infrastructure in Cox’s Bazar, particularly in Rohingya camps,  that has been built over nearly a decade and asks a critical question: what will it take to keep these systems functioning safely and sustainably?

It combines technical evidence with four human stories, showing how WASH is experienced through everyday realities—safe water, sanitation, dignity, public health and resilience. It also highlights the growing risks created by ageing infrastructure, climate pressures, operational challenges and shrinking funding. We would strongly encourage colleagues working on WASH, humanitarian financing, resilience, climate, public health, advocacy and fundraising to read and use the publication, particularly the human stories and evidence for advocacy and engagement.

Since the large-scale influx in 2017, Bangladesh and the international community have sustained an extraordinary humanitarian response for Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Nearly a decade later, the challenge is shifting from emergency delivery to sustaining critical systems, protecting hard-won gains and building more resilient pathways for the future.

In Cox’s Bazar, WASH is experienced through ordinary routines: the time a tap opens, the condition of a path after rain, the lock on a latrine door, the availability of soap, the arrival of a waste collector, and the speed with which a complaint is resolved. These routines are easy to overlook when the response is described mainly through asset counts. Yet they are where public-health protection, dignity and trust are won or lost.

Contact information:

For more information contact: [email protected]

Rise Together: Funding Climate Resilience in Tuvalu

Read full report – Rise Together – Funding Climate Resilience in Tuvalu

The people of Tuvalu stand on the frontline of a global climate emergency they had no part in causing. Their efforts to overcome the existential threats of the climate crisis come with costs that they cannot and should not carry alone.

For Tuvalu to stay resilient to the escalating climate crisis requires a matching escalation of international support, alongside redoubled efforts to ensure the equitable, effective, and transparent use of resources. Funding resilience in a climate crisis is a complex challenge for Tuvalu and its international partners, but it is essential to get it right. Nothing less than the sovereignty and fundamental rights of the Tuvaluan people depends on it.

Key to the effort will be a broadening and deepening of adaptation efforts so that no one is left behind. This requires amplifying the voice and leadership of women, persons with disabilities, youth, and others who have too often been left out of decisions on funding climate adaptation, even as they carry the heaviest burdens of the crisis.

This report features an analysis of current climate finance flows, which reveals that international investments are heavily skewed toward large-scale physical engineering, often overlooking the critical social infrastructure necessary for holistic, locally led adaptation. Furthermore, the operational reality of these large-scale projects highlights broader systemic constraints. Relatively little of the international climate finance committed to Tuvalu is actually spent in Tuvalu. The majority of funds go to international contractors and consultants and to imported equipment and supplies. While some of this international spending is necessary, especially for large infrastructure projects, Tuvalu’s economy is receiving less benefit from international projects than other similar countries. Tuvalu should develop a local procurement framework to ensure that projects supported by international partners leave behind robust institutional memory and a strengthened domestic workforce capable of sustaining long-term adaptation. This could include joint venture arrangements where appropriate, along with requirements for local employment and skills development.

Additionally, this report promotes several recommendations:

  • Formalise Climate Tracking in the National Regulatory Framework

  • Establish a Sovereign Public Climate Finance Portal

  • Formalise Participatory Fiscal Tracking

  • Implement a ‘Local Joint-Venture’ Procurement Policy

  • Negotiate Budget Support for Permanent Civil Service Roles

  • Guarantee Kaupule Access to Coordinated Climate Project Support

  • Establish a Baseline Target for ‘Social Infrastructure

Contact information:

For more information contact: [email protected]

Building the Gaza Strip Anew: Recovery Needs and Priorities, Palestinian Vision and Ownership

A Policy Reference for Regional and Global Advocacy

Read report – “Building the Gaza Strip Anew: Recovery Needs and Priorities, Palestinian Vision and Ownership” here.

This research provides a clear and grounded vision for building the Gaza Strip anew in a way that is just, sustainable and within a unified national approach (One Palestine).

The framework sets out a viable path, not by recreating a physical territory alone, but by supporting Palestinians to restore family life, communities, institutions, livelihoods and histories, anchored in their inalienable right to self-determination. The conclusions, drawn from years of Palestinian and international agency experience in responding to war, blockade and deprivation in Palestine, are straightforward: any credible recovery framework must be Palestinian-owned, rights-based, reparations-oriented, accountable and anchored in an approach that links Gaza’s recovery to the unity of the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The report is built on the shared position of leading Palestinian institutions and community voices: Gaza’s reconstruction must be led by Palestinians themselves, rooted in accountability and not focused on physical damage in isolation. Any meaningful reconstruction must respond to the devastation of Israel’s ongoing genocide and address the deeper injustices created by decades of unlawful occupation, blockade and dispossession. True recovery requires restoring rights, dignity and long-denied opportunities, and it must bring back social cohesion, care systems and the community networks that have been devastated.

The study sets out a principled, evidence-based framework for how Gaza can be rebuilt over the next five years. It explains the full range of challenges ahead, including homes and infrastructure repair, restoration of essential services, rebuilding care systems, reconnecting communities, and creating the foundations for long term economic independence. Each part of the plan is shaped by Palestinian expertise and lived experience, offering a coherent path forward that centres Palestinian leadership, rights and sovereignty.

It will require sustained political will, principled diplomacy and a willingness by international partners to reject approaches that are administratively convenient, but legally, politically or morally untenable, including models that deepen inequality, fragmentation, dependency, external control or socioeconomic distortions.

Contact information:

For more information contact: [email protected]

Billionaire wealth jumps three times faster in 2025 to highest peak ever, sparking dangerous political inequality says Oxfam

Billionaires 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people

Billionaire wealth jumped by over 16 per cent in 2025, three times faster than the past five-year average, to $18.3 trillion – its highest level in history, according to a new Oxfam report today as the World Economic Forum opens in Davos.

Billionaire wealth has increased by 81 per cent since 2020. This comes as one in four people don’t regularly have enough to eat and nearly half the world’s population live in poverty.

The report “Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Defending Freedom Against Billionaire Power” analyses how the super-rich are securing political power to shape the rules of our economies and societies for their own gain and to the detriment of the rights and freedoms of people around the world.

The surge in billionaire wealth coincides with the US Trump administration pursuing a pro-billionaire agenda. It has slashed taxes for the super-rich, undermined global efforts to tax large corporations, reversed attempts to address monopoly power and contributed to the growth of AI-related stocks that have provided a boon to super-rich investors world-wide.

His presidency has sent a clear warning sign to the rest of the world about the power of the ultra-rich. Rather than solely a US phenomenon Oxfam’s paper demonstrates that rising oligarchy is undermining societies worldwide. Oxfam’s report finds:

  • The collective wealth of billionaires last year surged by $2.5 trillion, almost equivalent to the total wealth held by the bottom half of humanity – 4.1 billion people.

  • The number of billionaires topped 3,000 last year for the first time, while the richest, Elon Musk, became the first ever to surpass half a trillion dollars.

  • Billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people.

  • The $2.5 trillion rise in billionaires’ wealth would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over.

New Zealand has four people with over a billion US dollars of wealth. These four billionaires together own more wealth than a third of New Zealanders, over 1.8 million people combined. At the same time, more than 900,000 people in Aotearoa suffer from food insecurity, over 17% of the population.  

“It’s obscene to see such a massive accumulation of wealth by so few individuals, while nearly a million people in Aotearoa can’t afford enough to eat” said Nick Henry, Oxfam Aotearoa’s Advocacy and Policy Lead.

“No-one should be going hungry in a society that produces so much wealth. We need our political leaders to stand up to the billionaires and multi-millionaires and say we’re going to tax this extreme wealth so that every Kiwi family can have a decent quality of life.”

“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is at the same time creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable.” said Oxfam Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

Oxfam estimates that billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens. A World Values Survey of 66 countries found that almost half of all people polled say that the rich often buy elections in their country.

“Governments are making wrong choices to pander to the elite and defend wealth while repressing people’s rights and anger at how so many of their lives are becoming unaffordable and unbearable,” Behar said.

Billions of people are being left facing avoidable hardships of poverty, hunger and death from preventable diseases because the system is rigged against them. Worldwide one in four people face food insecurity, having to regularly skip meals.

The rate of poverty reduction has stagnated with levels broadly where they were in 2019. Extreme poverty is rising again in Africa. Political decisions made by governments across the world last year to slash aid budgets have directly hit people living in poverty and could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030.

Civil liberties and political rights are being rolled back and suppressed; 2024 was the nineteenth successive year of decline with a quarter of all countries curtailing freedoms of expression. Last year there were more than 142 significant anti-government protests across 68 countries which authorities typically met with violence.

“Being economically poor creates hunger. Being politically poor creates anger.” said Behar.

The chances of democratic backsliding through, for example, the erosion of the rule of law or the undermining of elections is seven times more likely in highly unequal countries. “No country can afford to be complacent. The pace that economic and political inequality can hasten the erosion of people’s rights and safety can be frighteningly fast,” he said.

Governments are allowing the super-rich to dominate media and social media companies. Billionaires own more than half the world’s largest media companies and all the main social media companies.

The report cites Jeff Bezos’ purchase of the Washington Post, Elon Musk with Twitter/X, Patrick Soon-Shiong with the Los Angeles Times and a billionaire consortium buying large shares of The Economist. In France, far-right billionaire Vincent Bolloré now controls CNews, rebranding it as the French equivalent of Fox News. In the UK, three-quarters of newspaper circulation is controlled by four super-rich families.  

The report cites evidence that only 27% of top editors globally are female and just 23% belong to racialized groups respectively. This has seen their voices marginalized, while minorities like immigrants and people of colour are often stigmatized and scapegoated and critics silenced.

Authorities in Kenya have used X to track, punish and even abduct and torture government critics. A study by the University of California meanwhile found that in the months following Elon Musk’s acquisition of X the rates of hate speech increased by about 500 per cent.

“Our societies feel more toxic today because they demonstrably are, but not always for the reasons we’re being told. The outsized influence that the super-rich have over our politicians, economies and media has deepened inequality and led us far off track on tackling poverty. Governments should be listening to the needs of the people on things like quality healthcare, action on climate change and tax fairness,” Behar said.

Oxfam is calling on governments to prioritise:

  • Realistic and time-bound National Inequality Reduction Plans, with well-established benchmarks and regular monitoring of progress.

  • Effectively taxing the super-rich to reduce their power, including with broad-base taxes on income and wealth at high enough rates to reduce massive levels of inequality.

  • Stronger firewalls between wealth and politics including by tougher regulations against lobbying and campaign financing by the rich, ensuring more media independence, and banning hate speech.

  • Accountability for the political empowerment of ordinary citizens, including stronger protection for people’s freedoms of association, assembly and expression and for civil society organisations and trade unions.

Ends

Notes to Editor:

Contact information:

For more information or to arrange an interview, please reach out to:

Harry Stanbridge, Oxfam Aotearoa: [email protected]

How to Increase Taxes on Fossil Fuel Profits

Taxing excess profits, both in the fossil fuel industry and the overall corporate sector, is essential to restructure the economy to tackle climate breakdown, reduce inequality and make rich polluters pay. This briefing paper sets out Oxfam’s proposal for two taxes: a Rich Polluter Profit Tax (RPPT) on fossil fuel corporations, and an Excess Profit Tax (EPT) across all other sectors. An RPPT will ensure renewables are always more profitable than fossil fuel investments, and an EPT will reduce market concentration and the concentration of wealth, reducing inequality. Both can be implemented through existing corporate tax systems. Together, they could raise over US $1 trillion in their first year, which could fund vital investments for people and the planet. The paper explains how governments can design, administer and coordinate these taxes nationally and globally, to fund a just, gender responsive climate transition and fairer public finance.

View report here – How to Increase Taxes on Fossil Fuel Profits

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: [email protected]

25 years of UN promises to elevate and strengthen Palestinian women’s voices in peacebuilding have failed, says Oxfam

UN member states have wasted 25 years of potential by largely ignoring the crucial role that Palestinian women and girls should have played in building peace in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), says Oxfam

In a new report, ‘Arming Injustice with Impunity’, published in the wake of the October 31 anniversary marking 25 years since the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, Oxfam says that the UN’s initiative has not only failed Palestinian women, but has reinforced the status quo by failing to confront the root causes of violence: Israel’s illegal occupation and militarization, and the international
community’s complicity in selling arms and failing to hold Israel to account.

The WPS Agenda calls for women’s full participation in peace processes, protection from violence, and gender-responsive approaches to conflict prevention and recovery. While widely endorsed, its implementation has often been narrowed and inconsistent, particularly in contexts of prolonged occupation and systemic injustice.

Oxfam’s report, based on research conducted through consultation with partners and specialists in the field, outlines the devastating impacts upon women of Israel’s illegal occupation. In Gaza, almost 70,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 170,000 injured since October 2023, with women and children making up the majority of the casualties. Ninety percent of the population has been displaced, with Gaza left in ruins. Women face disproportionate burdens from the
collapse of infrastructure, healthcare systems, denial of maternal care, and increased exposure to trauma, starvation, and gender-based violence.

These harms extend beyond the battlefield: Palestinian women in detention have also been subjected to systematic abuse, including sexual and gender-based violence, which UN investigations have found may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In the West Bank, armed settler attacks – often backed by Israeli forces – have led to sexual harassment, threats of rape, and destruction of homes and schools. Women and girls live in fear, leading to school dropouts, miscarriages, and long-term psychological harm. Women human rights defenders face detention and repression, while internal patriarchal structures, exacerbated by militarization and unlawful occupation, further marginalize women’s
participation in political and public life.

Despite these challenges, Palestinian women-led civil society organizations continue to play key roles in providing education, protection support, and advocacy. However, the report criticizes the international community’s failure to uphold the WPS Agenda’s core commitments. States continuing to sell arms and militarily cooperating with Israel undermine their global commitments to women’s rights, gender equality and peace.

While the Palestinian Authority (PA) has adopted National Action Plans (NAPs) on WPS, their implementation is hindered by political fragmentation, lack of funding and lack of political will.

Originally envisioned to challenge power structures and centre women in peacebuilding, the WPS agenda in the OPT has been narrowed by militarized approaches and political fragmentation, that overlook the root causes that prevent full gender equality, protection, participation and justice, Oxfam says.

Oxfam believes that the WPS Agenda should return to its core: confronting militarism, enforcing international law, and prioritizing gender justice. For Palestinian women, peace requires dismantling Israel’s unlawful occupation, restoring justice and accountability and ensuring their
voices are central in shaping a just and lasting future.

For further details contact: [email protected]

Killer facts:

  • Almost 70,000 Palestinians killed and 170,000 injured in Gaza since October 2023 — the majority being women and children.

  • With 90% of Gaza’s population forcibly displaced, with no safe zones remaining, women face trauma, humiliation, and increased vulnerability to GBV.

  • Healthcare collapse: hospitals bombed, health workers killed, and maternal care denied.

  • Armed settlers commit gendered crimes including sexual harassment and threats of rape.

  • Women human rights defenders face arbitrary detention without charge or trial.

  • Civil society groups provide vital support but face severe restrictions under occupation.

  • The WPS Agenda has failed to address militarization and occupation in the oPt.

  • In a context of genocide and unlawful occupation, arms-transfers to Israel have played a part in undermining global commitments to gender equality and peace.

Notes to Editors:

The full report, Arming Injustice with Impunity: How Support for Israel’s illegal occupation and militarization undermines States’ commitments to gender equality and the WPS Agenda, is here

Another recently published Oxfam report on WPS, Beyond Rhetoric – Feminist Leadership for a Transformative Women, Peace and Security Agenda at 25 is here:

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000. It was the first resolution to formally recognize the unique impact of conflict on women and girls, and the critical role they play in peacebuilding and conflict prevention. The agenda is built around four key pillars: prevention, protection, participation, and relief and recovery.

Palestinian women face what has been described as ‘double jeopardy’: the combined impact of Israel’s prolonged military occupation and entrenched patriarchal laws and norms within Palestinian society. Discriminatory legal frameworks—many of which predate 1967—continue to restrict women’s rights in areas such as marriage, mobility, access to healthcare, and political participation. These are further compounded by the extreme challenges presented by Israel’s illegal occupation, including violence, displacement, and restrictions on movement. One particularly harrowing dimension is the treatment of Palestinian women in detention. According to a March 2025 report by the UN Commission of Inquiry, Israeli detention practices are marked by widespread and systematic abuse, including sexual and gender-based violence, which has intensified significantly since 7 October 2023. Women and girls have reported being subjected to forced nudity, threats of sexual violence including rape, and physical assault of a sexual nature during interrogations and searches. The Commission concluded that such acts amount to war crimes—including outrages upon personal dignity and inhuman treatment—and crimes against
humanity, including torture. It further found that these abuses reflect an intentional policy aimed at humiliating and degrading Palestinian detainees through sexual, reproductive, and other forms of gender-based violence, observed across multiple facilities and transit locations.

Contact information:

For more information, please contact: [email protected]