inequality

Dismal conditions in shelters as hundreds of thousands of people in Syria and Türkiye lack water and basic sanitation

February 20, 2023

Hundreds of thousands of people, among those who lost their homes in the massive earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria ten days ago, are now crammed into temporary shelters with insufficient clean water or toilets.

In some shelters in Aleppo, Syria, as many as 150 people are having to share a single toilet. Women and children are disproportionally affected. One woman told Oxfam she had to hold herself for 24 hours sometimes, so she doesn’t have to use the only available toilet. “There is no privacy or dignity.”

Moutaz Adham, Country Director of Oxfam in Syria, said: “Cholera cases, which were already on the rise even before the earthquake, could surge given the scarcity of proper sanitation facilities in overcrowded mosques and temporary camps. It is vital that we stop people dying from preventable disease.”

In Türkiye, only a small part of the government’s planned shelter containers has been installed so far, leaving hundreds of thousands of families in small temporary shelters, some with hardly any water taps or toilets.

Oxfam KEDV in Türkiye is working through a network of women’s organisations and cooperatives, volunteers, and public authorities to facilitate the setting up of shelters and tents, and to distribute food, clean water, showers, toilets, hygiene products, and blankets.

Oxfam KEDV’s partners are also providing survivors with information on where to get support and creating safe spaces for women and children.

Syrian refugees in the affected areas in Türkiye have already endured years of multiple displacements. “We don’t think about the future… we are only surviving”, Aziza Ahmet, a Syrian refugee single mother of three, told Oxfam.

In Türkiye, Oxfam’s operation with its partner network aims to reach 1.4m people in the most affected areas, including by restoring water and sanitation systems, ensuring access to food, and supporting people to rebuild their businesses by providing training, mentoring and financial support.

In Syria, Oxfam is currently providing water and hygiene kits in Aleppo with the aim to reach over 26,000 people. The team has begun fixing water taps and toilets for over 1000 families, and support safety checks to 220 buildings.

“We are running against the clock to help. The scale of need is massive. Oxfam is planning to scale up of our operations to reach 300,000 of the most affected people with lifesaving food, clean water, sanitation, and cash,” said Adham.

EARTHQUAKE: Oxfam and partners aim to reach nearly 2 million affected people in Turkiye and Syria

February 14, 2023

Oxfam, together with our partners in Turkiye (Turkey) and Syria, is working to reach nearly 2 million people – 10 percent of the population affected by the quake – with aid and support so that they can rebuild their lives.

Meryem Aslan, Oxfam Spokeswoman in Turkiye said: “People are living in cars, mosques, in tents or huddling around fires in freezing conditions. Emergency shelters are overwhelmed and over-crowded. Many people do not want to stay in the area with hundreds of thousands having been evacuated out of the region.”

In Turkiye, Oxfam KEDV is working closely with dozens of grassroot women-led organisations and cooperatives to reach up to 1.5 million people over the first three years. Our teams have already provided food, shelter, blankets and psychological support to some of most affected areas including Gaziantep, Hatay and Mardin.

“Our teams are experienced, having responded to the 1999 earthquake, but we are facing new hurdles getting aid to those who need it. We are dealing with destroyed roads, nearly 300 aftershocks and an unprecedented scale of devastation. The sheer number of fatalities is heart-breaking. Topping the list of items needed are body bags to bury the dead. In some areas, communication is also limited which is hampering aid distribution,” added Aslan.

The earthquake has impacted over 13 million people in Turkiye – one in every six people. Over 12,000 buildings have been destroyed and many more are threatening to crumble.

Ali, a father of four from Gaziantep, told us, “We were shaking and we were so scared. I thought this was my last day. When I looked at the walls, I felt like they were moving towards me.”

He added, “It was such a bitter day. I hope we never experience this ever again.”

In Hatay, a city affected by the earthquake, only three hospitals remain standing. It is imagined that the earthquake response will take a year in Turkiye, but the after-effects will be felt for many more years to come.

In Syria, the earthquake has caused over 3500 deaths and many more injured.

Abdelkader Dabbagh, Aleppo Area Manager for Oxfam in Syria said: “The earthquake has shattered an already conflict-torn country. People do not have a roof over their heads and are stuck in freezing temperatures with no idea where they could get their next meal. Our team is working with other humanitarian organisations to get clean drinking water and hygiene packs to survivors.”

We already started providing safe drinking water to people in Aleppo. We have also supported safety checks to 220 buildings and begun fixing water taps and toilets for over 1000 of the most impacted people. Over the next six months, Oxfam aims to reach more than 300,000 survivors.

Moutaz Adham, Oxfam in Syria Country Director, said: “This is nothing new for Syrians who have lived and are still living the horrors of over twelve years of conflict. To make matters worse, we are still facing an uphill battle due to years of chronic underfunding, skyrocketing inflation, and scarce supplies of fuel.”

Oxfam calls on the international community to meet the urgent needs of those affected by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria, and to facilitate aid delivery to both countries along with a longer-term plan to support the survivors in the recovery efforts.

Notes

Oxfam KEDV was founded in 1986 and became an Oxfam affiliate in 2019. Previous to the earthquake, Oxfam KEDV was working with 78 grassroot women organisations and cooperatives in the affected areas and 600 throughout Turkey. We will work with these partners in our humanitarian response to the earthquake.

Oxfam KEDV is also a member to the National Disaster Response Platform, a network formed in 2020 representing 27 national civil CSOs, which coordinates disaster and emergency responses in Turkiye. All NGOs registered with this platform must register with the Acik Acik Association which is responsible for ensuring the transparency and accountability of NGOS.

In Syria, Oxfam has been on the scene since 2013. We get clean water to people affected by the conflict. We distributed cash and food. We also work with people to rebuild their lives including supporting farmers to start farming again through trainings and distribution of seeds and animal fodder as well as repairing irrigation systems.

Data on the death toll in Syria was sourced from AFP via the BBC.

EARTHQUAKE: Oxfam, partners mount response in Turkey and Syria

February 8, 2023

Oxfam humanitarian teams – along with partner organisations in Turkey and Syria – are assessing the fastest, most appropriate way to help affected people in the aftermath of Monday’s devastating earthquake – the biggest in Turkey since 1938.

Turkish authorities have launched an official search-and-rescue mission, asking specifically for mountaineers to help. An Oxfam colleague in Turkey has responded to the call as an expert amateur mountaineer.

Meryem Aslan, Oxfam spokesperson in Ankara, said: “The scale of destruction is vast. Following two big earthquakes and over 60 aftershocks, people are still in shock and fear, they don’t even have time to mourn the lost ones.” She managed to reach family and friends in affected areas by phone – thankful they were alive and well – but many buildings and home were now rubble, she said.

Oxfam in Turkey has partnerships with around 80 women’s cooperatives in ten Turkish provinces that have been most affected by the quake. Given the scale of devastation, Oxfam is currently assessing response plans with them.

“Not only do survivors have to deal with the tragedy before them, but they also have to cope with the extreme cold. It will be impossible for survivors to sleep outside. It’s horrifying to contemplate the days ahead, given that some areas are even now in snow,” said Aslan.

“Reaching survivors will be extremely challenging with many roads and highways damaged or blocked, and over vast distances. Even as Turkey has a lot of expertise in dealing with earthquakes, the scale of the aftermath is daunting. The death toll has already reached over 7,000 people and is growing. The number of survivors who maybe left now with absolutely nothing is likely to be huge,” she said.

“Typically, Oxfam and partners would look to provide protection, water and sanitation, shelter and food support and in the longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction. We are now assessing the type of immediate and longer-term support that is needed.

“We know that all countries affected by this awful earthquake, and the survivors of it, will need a lot of help and support – not only in the immediate short-term, but in the days and weeks and months ahead.”

In Syria, the cities of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Idlib have been badly hit by both the earthquake and continuous, severe aftershocks that have driven people into wintery streets fearing further collapses of buildings. Dozens of buildings have been badly damaged across Aleppo and 46 are reported to have collapsed. As nightly temperatures are expected to drop to zero degrees Celsius. Shelter, food, water, fuel and medical care for those who have been injured are desperately needed.

For Syria, this earthquake hits at a time when the humanitarian need is at its highest in the country. Over 15 million people are in desperate need humanitarian assistance and support.

/Ends.

Richest 1% bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years

January 17, 2023

Super-rich outstrip their extraordinary grab of half of all new wealth in past decade.
Billionaire fortunes are increasing by US$2.7 billion (NZ$4.2 billion) a day even as at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages.
A tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise US$1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty.

The richest 1 percent grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth worth US$42 trillion created since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population, reveals a new Oxfam report today. During the past decade, the richest 1 percent had captured around half of all new wealth.

“Survival of the Richest” is published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Elites are gathering in the Swiss ski resort as extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years.

“While ordinary people are making daily sacrifices on essentials like food, the super-rich have outdone even their wildest dreams. Just two years in, this decade is shaping up to be the best yet for billionaires —a roaring ‘20s boom for the world’s richest,” said Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

“Taxing the super-rich and big corporations is the door out of today’s overlapping crises. It’s time we demolish the convenient myth that tax cuts for the richest result in their wealth somehow ‘trickling down’ to everyone else. Forty years of tax cuts for the super-rich have shown that a rising tide doesn’t lift all ships —just the superyachts.”

Billionaires have seen extraordinary increases in their wealth. During the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis years since 2020, US$26 trillion (63 percent) of all new wealth was captured by the richest 1 percent, while US$16 trillion (37 percent) went to the rest of the world put together. A billionaire gained roughly US$1.7 million for every US$1 of new global wealth earned by a person in the bottom 90 percent. Billionaire fortunes have increased by US$2.7 billion a day. This comes on top of a decade of historic gains —the number and wealth of billionaires having doubled over the last ten years.

Billionaire wealth surged in 2022 with rapidly rising food and energy profits. The report shows that 95 food and energy corporations have more than doubled their profits in 2022. They made US$306 billion in windfall profits, and paid out US$257 billion (84 percent) of that to rich shareholders. The Walton dynasty, which owns half of Walmart, received US$8.5 billion over the last year. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, owner of major energy corporations, has seen this wealth soar by US$42 billion (46 percent) in 2022 alone. Excess corporate profits have driven at least half of inflation in Australia, the US and the UK.

At the same time, at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages, and over 820 million people —roughly one in ten people on Earth— are going hungry. Women and girls often eat least and last, and make up nearly 60 percent of the world’s hungry population. The World Bank says we are likely seeing the biggest increase in global inequality and poverty since WW2. Entire countries are facing bankruptcy, with the poorest countries now spending four times more repaying debts to rich creditors than on healthcare. Three-quarters of the world’s governments are planning austerity-driven public sector spending cuts —including on healthcare and education— by US$7.8 trillion over the next five years.

Oxfam is calling for a systemic and wide-ranging increase in taxation of the super-rich to claw back crisis gains driven by public money and profiteering. Decades of tax cuts for the richest and corporations have fueled inequality, with the poorest people in many countries paying higher tax rates than billionaires.

Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, paid a “true tax rate” of about 3 percent between 2014 and 2018. Aber Christine, a flour vendor in Uganda, makes US$80 a month and pays a tax rate of 40 percent.

Worldwide, only four cents in every tax dollar now comes from taxes on wealth. Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a US$5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs, more than the GDP of Africa, which will drive a future generation of aristocratic elites. Rich people’s income is mostly unearned, derived from returns on their assets, yet it is taxed on average at 18 percent, just over half as much as the average top tax rate on wages and salaries.

The report shows that taxes on the wealthiest used to be much higher. Over the last forty years, governments across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas have slashed the income tax rates on the richest. At the same time, they have upped taxes on goods and services, which fall disproportionately on the poorest people and exacerbate gender inequality. In the years after WW2, the top US federal income tax rate remained above 90 percent and averaged 81 percent between 1944 and 1981. Similar levels of tax in other rich countries existed during some of the most successful years of their economic development and played a key role in expanding access to public services like education and healthcare.

“Taxing the super-rich is the strategic precondition to reducing inequality and resuscitating democracy. We need to do this for innovation. For stronger public services. For happier and healthier societies. And to tackle the climate crisis, by investing in the solutions that counter the insane emissions of the very richest,” said Bucher.

According to new analysis by the Fight Inequality Alliance, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and the Patriotic Millionaires, an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise US$1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, fully fund the shortfalls on existing humanitarian appeals, deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low- and lower middle-income countries.

Oxfam is calling on governments to:

Introduce one-off solidarity wealth taxes and windfall taxes to end crisis profiteering.
Permanently increase taxes on the richest 1 percent, for example to at least 60 percent of their income from labor and capital, with higher rates for multi-millionaires and billionaires. Governments must especially raise taxes on capital gains, which are subject to lower tax rates than other forms of income.
Tax the wealth of the richest 1 percent at rates high enough to significantly reduce the numbers and wealth of the richest people, and redistribute these resources. This includes implementing inheritance, property and land taxes, as well as net wealth taxes.

Notes to editors

Download “Survival of the Richest” and the methodology document outlining how Oxfam calculated the statistics in the report.

Oxfam’s calculations are based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available. Figures on the very richest in society come from the Forbes billionaire list.

All amounts are expressed in US dollars and, where relevant, have been adjusted for inflation using the US consumer price index.

According to the World Bank, extreme poverty increased in 2020 for the first time in 25 years. At the same time, extreme wealth has risen dramatically since the pandemic began.

The report shows that while the richest 1 percent captured 54 percent of new global wealth over the past decade, this has accelerated to 63 percent in the past two years. US$42 trillion of new wealth was created between December 2019 and December 2021. US$26 trillion (63 percent) was captured by the richest 1 percent, while US$16 trillion (37 percent) went to the bottom 99 percent. According to Credit Suisse, individuals with more than US$1 million in wealth sit in the top 1 percent bracket.

The billionaire class is US$2.6 trillion richer than before the pandemic, even if billionaire fortunes slightly fell in 2022 after their record-smashing peak in 2021. The world’s richest are now seeing their wealth climb again.

In the US, the UK and Australia, studies have found that 54 percent, 59 percent and 60 percent of inflation, respectively, was driven by increased corporate profits. In Spain, the CCOO (one of the country’s largest trade unions) found that corporate profits are responsible for 83.4 percent of price increases during the first quarter of 2022.

The World Bank announced that the world has almost certainly lost its goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and that “global progress in reducing extreme poverty has grind[ed] to a halt” amid what the Bank says was likely to be the largest increase in global inequality and the largest setback in global poverty since WW2. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$2.15 per day.

Elon Musk paid a “true tax rate” of just 3.27 percent from 2014 to 2018, according to ProPublica.

The US$6.85 poverty line was used to calculate how many people (2 billion) an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could lift out of poverty.

Polling consistently finds that most people across countries support raising taxes on the richest. For example, the majority of people in the US, 80 percent of Indians, 85 percent of Brazilians and 69 percent of people polled across 34 countries in Africa support increasing taxes on the rich.

Oxfam’s research shows that the ultra-rich are the biggest individual contributors to the climate crisis. The richest billionaires, through their polluting investments, are emitting a million times more carbon than the average person. The wealthiest 1 percent of humanity are responsible for twice as many emissions as the poorest 50 percent and by 2030, their carbon footprints are set to be 30 times greater than the level compatible with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

Aotearoa top 10 in global inequality index, but tax system’s inequality impact 136th

October 12, 2022

Oxfam Aotearoa communications and advocacy director Dr Jo Spratt said about the Commitment to Reducing Inequality index:

“The inequality index shows Aotearoa is doing pretty well overall, but there is still work to be done. The fact that rich and poor countries alike have exacerbated an explosion of economic inequality since the outbreak of the pandemic from 2020 is unacceptable.

“Billionaire wealth and corporate profits have soared to record levels during the Covid-19 pandemic, while over a quarter of a billion more people could crash to extreme levels of poverty this year because of coronavirus, rising global inequality, and the shock of food price rises supercharged by the war in Ukraine.

“Tax is one of the most powerful tools we have to fight inequality. It is disappointing to see New Zealand’s tax system contributing to the gap between the rich and poor. Especially in these extraordinary times, tax is crucial to boosting government resources to support welfare systems and public services.

“An excess profits tax on supermarkets could be used to support the poorest households most hit by the increase in food prices. Excess profits and windfall tax revenues can help tackle the biggest challenges of our times like the explosion in inequality and the climate crisis.”

The 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI Index) is the first detailed analysis into the type of inequality busting policies and actions that 161 countries might have pursued during the first two years of the pandemic.

New Zealand ranks eighth overall, and seventh in the world on tax progressivity. The index found that New Zealand’s tax system is effective at collecting revenue; however, this comes at a cost as New Zealand’s tax system makes a direct contribution to an unequal income distribution. On this, New Zealand ranks 136th in the world. Oxfam says the Government has made some progress since 2020 by slightly increasing the top income tax rate, but needs to do more by taxing wealth and exploring better ways to tax corporate profits.

The table below shows New Zealand’s ranking on the key indicators that make up the CRI.

INDICATOR	RANK
PUBLIC SERVICES
Education spending	98
Social protection spending	35
Health spending	9
Public service spending average of indicators	14
Public service implementation	18
Public service impact on inequality (Gini)	33
Progressivity of public services	22
TAX
Tax policy	91
Tax productivity	3
Tax impact on inequality (Gini)	136
Progressivity of tax	7
LABOUR
Labour rights	74
Women’s labour rights	29
Minimum wage	35
Labour policy average of indicators	50
Coverage of labour rights	36
Wage impact on inequality (Gini)	53
Progressivity of Labour Legislation	35
OVERALL RANK
Commitment to reducing Inequality	8

New index shows governments worldwide stoked an inequality explosion during COVID-19 pandemic

October 12, 2022

Half of the poorest countries saw health spendings drop despite the pandemic, while 95 percent of all countries froze or even lowered taxes on rich people and corporates

Rich and poor countries alike have exacerbated an explosion of economic inequality since the outbreak of the pandemic from 2020, reveals new research by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI).

The overwhelming majority of governments cut their shares of health, education and social protection spending. At the same time, they refused to raise taxes on excessive profits and soaring wealth.

The index shows that despite the worst health crisis in a century, half of low and lower middle-income countries cut their share of health spending of their budgets. Almost half of all countries cut their share going to social protection, while 70 percent cut their share going to education.

As poverty levels increased to record levels and workers struggled with decades-high prices, two thirds of countries failed to raise their minimum wages in line with economic growth. Despite huge pressure on government finances, 143 of 161 countries froze the tax rates on their richest citizens, and 11 countries even lowered them.

France fell five places in the index after cutting corporate tax rates and eliminating its wealth tax altogether in 2019. Jordan dropped its budget share for health spending by a fifth, despite the pandemic. Nigeria did not update its minimum wage since before the pandemic, and the US has not raised the federal minimum wage since 2009.

“Our index shows that most governments have completely failed to take the steps needed to counter the inequality explosion created by COVID-19. They ripped away public services when people needed them most and instead left billionaires and big corporations off the hook to reap record profits. There is some good news of valiant governments from the Caribbean to Asia bucking this trend, taking strong steps to keep inequality in check,” said Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam International Executive Director.

Strong actions to reduce inequality were taken by both low and middle income countries:

Costa Rica put up its top income tax by 10 percent
The Occupied Palestinian Territory increased its social spending from 37 to 47 percent of its entire budget.
Barbados introduced a comprehensive set of laws to improve women’s labor rights, and the Maldives introduced its first national minimum wage.

As Finance Ministers gather in Washington for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual Meetings, developing nations are facing a global economy that is making it ever more difficult to meet the needs of their population. While injecting trillions in their own economies, rich countries failed to increase aid during the pandemic. Economic inequality and poverty in poor countries are further exacerbated by the IMF’s insistence on new austerity measures to reduce debts and budget deficits.,

“The debate has catastrophically shifted from how we deal with the economic fallout of COVID-19 to how we reduce debt through brutal public spending cuts, and pay freezes. With the help of IMF, the world is sleepwalking into measures that will increase inequality further. We need to wake up and learn the lessons; preventing huge increases in inequality is completely practical, and common sense. Inequality is a policy choice, governments must stop putting the richest first, and ordinary people last”, says Matthew Martin, Director of DFI.

Oxfam and DFI analysis shows that based on IMF data, three quarters of all countries globally are planning further cuts to expenditures over the next five years, totalling $7,8 trillion dollars.

In 2021, lower income countries spent 27.5 percent of their budgets in repaying their debts – twice the amount that they have spent on their education, four times that of health and nearly 12 times that of social protection.

“For every dollar spent on health, developing countries are paying four dollars in debt repayments to rich creditors. Comprehensive debt relief and higher taxes on the rich are essential to allow them to reduce inequality dramatically”, said Martin.

Despite historical precedent, nearly all countries failed to increase taxation on the richest or pursue windfall profits during the COVID crisis. After the 1918 flu epidemic, the 1930s depression, and World War Two, many rich countries increased taxes on the richest and introduced taxes on corporate windfall profits. They used this revenue to build education, health and social protection systems. Taxation of the wealthiest and windfall profits can generate trillions of dollars in tax revenue.

“Government leaders in Washington face a choice: build equal economies where everyone pays their fair share or continue to drive up the gap between the rich and the rest, causing huge, unnecessary suffering”, said Bucher.

Notes to editors

The 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index is the first detailed analysis looking at governments’ policies and actions to fight inequality during the first two years of the pandemic. It reviews the spending, tax and labour policies and actions of 161 governments during 2020–2022. Its findings show clear lessons for governments now grappling with inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
Co-authors Matthew Martin, Director at Development Finance International, and Max Lawson, Global Policy Lead Inequality for Oxfam, are available for interviews.
Dozens of civil society organizations have joined in a campaign to #EndAusterity. In a report they warned for a post-pandemic austerity shock. Oxfam senior policy advisor Nabil Abdo is available for interviews.
In the run up to the World Bank Annual Meeting, Oxfam launched its report Unaccountable Accounting on October 3, highlighting the inaccuracy of World bank’s accounting of climate finance. Poor countries may not be getting the crucial climate funding they need to survive. Oxfam’s climate change policy lead, Nafkote Dabi is available for interviews.
Oxfam Aotearoa reaction to New Zealand’s ranking can be found here.