Media Releases

Oxfam Aotearoa commends MFAT on export controls system review

September 24, 2021

Oxfam Aotearoa commends the release from Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta, that welcomes the findings of an independent review into Aotearoa New Zealand’s export controls system. Executive Director of Oxfam Aotearoa Rachel Le Mesurier said:

“This is a very welcome step towards improving New Zealand’s ability to uphold international human rights standards and prevent human rights abuses. We congratulate Minister Mahuta and the Government for their efficiency in undertaking a review, releasing the findings publicly, and supporting the recommendations for reform.

“We welcome the recommendation for legislative reform to make the regime clearer and simpler to implement. We are particularly pleased to see the recommendation for greater transparency and to build public confidence in the regime.”

Earlier this year, Oxfam Aotearoa called for a transparent, public investigation into the New Zealand Government’s export control regime in the wake of the revelation that Air New Zealand worked on military equipment that went to Saudi Arabia–a military the UN accused of potential war crimes in Yemen.

“We look forward to further engagement with MFAT as they implement the review’s recommendations, including the review and refresh of the assessment criteria,” said Le Mesurier.

Third COVID wave engulfs Yemen with 99 per cent of people unvaccinated

September 22, 2021

Yemenis are battling a third wave of COVID, which threatens 99 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated, Oxfam said today.

Recorded cases of COVID have tripled and the death rate has risen by more than fivefold (420 per cent) in the last month. Excluded from these figures are countless undiagnosed deaths of people in their homes due to the scarcity of tests and hospital beds. Nor does the official death toll of 1649 include the vast majority of Yemeni people who live in the north of the country where COVID-related data is not available.

Despite promises that COVAX, the global initiative to deliver vaccines, would achieve at least 23 per cent vaccination coverage in all member countries by the end of this year, less than one per cent of Yemen’s 30.5 million people have so far received one dose and only 0.05 per cent of the population are fully vaccinated.

Half-way through the year the COVAX scheme was already short by 88 per cent of the promised doses for Yemen, having delivered just 511,000 of 4.2 million. Fears that Yemen’s only source of vaccines to date will fail the country again increased last week when the initiative announced it was a half a billion doses short of its global supply target.

Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s in Yemen’s country director, said: “Yemen has the one of the highest COVID fatality rates in the world – it simply can’t cope with this virus. The conflict has decimated the already fragile healthcare system. Many people are very weak because they can’t afford to feed themselves properly or to buy basic medicines. Others are unable to afford the cost of transportation to a medical centre because of the ongoing fuel crisis.

“Vaccination is a simple solution that would save lives, but the international community is failing the people of Yemen who need doses now. We need the vaccines that have been promised but it is also shameful that having bought up all the vaccines for themselves rich countries like the UK and Germany are blocking the solutions that would see the rights and recipes of these lifesaving vaccines shared so that more can be produced for countries like Yemen. Protecting lives should be more important than protecting the outsized profits of pharmaceutical corporations who have already made billions from this crisis.”

Over four million Yemenis have been displaced during the conflict with around two million living in Marib, currently the site of fierce fighting. Conditions in the camps are dire, many people have no access to clean water, sanitation facilities or healthcare. Salma Qassem*, a midwife who has been living one of Marib’s camps for the last two years, said:

“I was first displaced six years ago. Some people here do not believe COVID exists. Though we have had many cases here in the camps, people haven’t yet realised that the pandemic is spreading. Shelter is the biggest obstacle for Internally Displaced People like us. Some people want to follow the precautions, but they can’t afford it for economic reasons. It is very difficult in terms of isolation for us to face COVID here in the camp especially if anyone is affected, how and where shall we isolate them? “

According to the UN two out of three Yemenis lack access to healthcare services. Seven years on from the start of the conflict, only an estimated half of healthcare facilities are still operating. An estimated 20 million Yemenis need healthcare assistance including 5.9 million children. Sources report that Yemen’s doctors in public hospitals have been working unpaid with some sleeping in hospitals and clinics as they cannot afford accommodation.

This year the UN requested donor countries to provide $3.9 billion for essential humanitarian aid – so far less than half has been donated with healthcare only receiving 11 per cent of the funds it needs

Ends

*Name changed to protect identity

Notes

Oxfam Yemen’s Policy and Advocacy lead Abdulwasea Mohammed is available for interview (English or Arabic)

Broadcast quality footage of Salma Qassem talking about COVID in the Camp where she lives is available plus B roll of the camp and crowded local markets

COVID STATS:

Number of cases of Covid 20 Aug-19 September 2021 = 1260

Number of cases of Covid 20 July – 19 August 2021 = 420

Number of deaths due to COVID 20 Aug – 19 September 2021 = 229

Number of deaths due to COVID 20 July – 19 August 2021 = 44

Source – Johns Hopkins University

Vaccine supply raw data from Airfinity, Vaccination raw data from Our World in Data (All vaccine data from 20.09.21)

COVAX Total supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses	4,191,600
COVAX Total vaccine deliveries	511,000
Delivery as % of total supply	12%
Doses administered	322,934
Population fully vaccinated	0.05%
Population partially vaccinated	0.96%

Source for Covax vaccine supply stats: – https://www.who.int/news/item/08-09-2021-joint-covax-statement-on-supply-forecast-for-2021-and-early-2022

The IRG government in the South of Yemen closed schools last week (w/c 13 September)

Latest key figures on IDPs https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-covering-period-24-august-3-september-2021

COVAX = COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization

Yemen healthcare needs https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-response-plan-2021-march-2021-enar

Poorer nations expected to face up to US$75 billion six-year shortfall in climate finance: Oxfam 

September 22, 2021

Wealthy nations are expected to fall up to US$75 billion ($106.6 billion) short of fulfilling their long-standing pledge to mobilise just over US$100 billion each year from 2020 to 2025 to help the most vulnerable countries adapt to the dangerous effects of climate change and reduce their emissions, according to estimates by Oxfam today.

This analysis comes ahead of informal climate talks between world leaders at the UN General Assembly later today – a key moment to get the target back on track ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow in November. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released new data on Friday showing that developed countries provided only around US$80 billion in climate finance in 2019.

Based on current pledges and plans, Oxfam estimates that wealthy governments will continue to miss the $100 billion goal and reach only US$93 billion to US$95 billion per year by 2025, five years after the goal should have been met. This means that climate-vulnerable countries could miss out on between US$68 billion and US$75 billion in total over the six-year target period.  

Hot and cold temperatures are estimated to kill five million people every year, accounting for more than nine percent of human deaths globally, and this is expected to increase as heat-related deaths rise due to climate change. Climate change could trigger economic losses double that of the pandemic, but it is not being treated with the same urgency. In 2020, the EU, UK, US, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand spent more than $21 trillion on COVID-19 fiscal recovery packages ―equivalent to meeting the climate finance goal 151 times over. At the same time, total global military spending rose by 2.6 percent since 2019 to just under US$2 trillion ―nearly 20 times more than the climate finance goal. So far, New Zealand has spent $48.4 billion on the Covid-19 pandemic, which is more than 160 times its fair share of the US$100 billion goal according to an Oxfam report.

Several countries, including Aotearoa New Zealand, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have made no new climate finance pledges. While some countries, including the US, Canada and Germany, have increased their pledges in recent months their efforts have not been enough. At the G7 Summit in June, leaders repeated their commitment to narrow the gap, but those of France, Australia and Japan failed to increase their contributions above current levels.

Climate finance is one of the three key pillars of the Paris Agreement and vital to global efforts to tackle the climate crisis and its impacts. Globally, 2020 tied for the hottest year on record, with 98.4 million people affected by floods, storms and other climate-related disasters and caused economic losses of at least $242.8 billion.  

At a virtual talanoa of the Pacific Island Forum last week, Tuvalu’s Finance Minister Seve Paeniu said that Tuvalu needs more than $425 million for coastal protection alone. For countries like Tuvalu, transitioning to clean energy and adapting to climate change impacts —some of which are already irreversible— cannot happen without this support. Many developing countries are already being forced to spend large amounts of their public finances on combating climate change. For example: 

Fiji has an average asset loss of more than FJ$500 million ($340 million) per year due to tropical cyclones and floods. The World Bank estimates that almost FJ$9.3 billion ($13.6 billion), almost 100 percent of GDP, in investment is required over the next 10 years to strengthen Fiji’s resilience to climate change and natural hazards for decades to come.
Over the next 50 years Solomon Islands is likely to incur annual average direct losses equivalent to 3 percent of GDP, has a 50 percent chance of experiencing an event causing a loss exceeding 35 percent of GDP.

Poor families in rural Bangladesh spend nearly $2 billion a year on preventing climate-related disasters or repairing the damage caused by them —twice as much as the government and over 12 times more than Bangladesh receives in multilateral international climate financing. The average person in Bangladesh produces 24 times less CO2 than the average person in the US.

Oxfam Aotearoa Campaign Lead Alex Johnston said:

“The pandemic has shown that our government can swiftly mobilise billions of dollars to respond to a crisis — it is clearly a question of political will. Let’s be clear, we are in a climate crisis. It is wreaking havoc across the globe and requires the same decisiveness and urgency. Millions of people from Guatemala to Fiji have already lost their homes, livelihoods and loved ones because of turbo-charged storms and chronic droughts, caused by a climate crisis they did little to cause.

“Wealthy nations, including New Zealand, must live up to their promise made twelve years ago and put their money where their mouths are. We need to see real funding increases now, within a rising overseas aid budget. It’s particularly critical that New Zealand steps up in this area ahead of COP26 to show a commitment to increased action given that our Emissions Reduction Plan won’t be ready in time. Developing countries need to see that we have skin in the game, and climate finance, alongside a greatly increased 2030 climate target, is one of the ways we can show that.”

According to the UN Environment Program, annual adaptation costs in developing countries are expected to reach US$140 billion to 300 billion ($199 billion to $211 billion) per year by 2030, and US$280 billion to 500 billion ($398 billion to $710.8 billion) by 2050.

With the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow just over a month away, Oxfam is calling on New Zealand and other wealthy countries to urgently increase their pledges of climate finance to deliver on their target. At least 50 percent of climate finance should be spent on adaptation.  

/Ends  

Notes

Oxfam’s methodology and datasheet on the shortfall in climate finance are available on request. 

In 2009, developed countries agreed to contribute US$100 billion a year in climate finance to poorer countries by 2020. At the Paris climate summit in 2015 (COP21), this goal was extended to last through to 2025. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, they agreed to negotiate a yet-higher amount that would kick in from 2025. 

Climate Week NYC is taking place 20-26 September. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will convene a closed-door meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly later today (Monday). 

A study led by Monash University and published in The Lancet Planetary Health estimates that more than five million extra deaths a year can be attributed to abnormal hot and cold temperatures. The study found deaths related to hot temperatures increased in all regions from 2000 to 2019, indicating that global warming due to climate change will make this mortality figure worse in the future. 

The economies of the G7 nations could see an average loss of 8.5 percent annually by 2050 ―equivalent to $4.8 trillion― if leaders do not take more ambitious action to tackle climate change, according to Oxfam’s analysis of research by the Swiss Re Institute. 

The IMF’s Fiscal Monitor Database summarizes the key fiscal measures governments have announced or taken in selected economies in response to COVID-19.  

Country	Total spending on COVID-19 fiscal measures (US$ billion)	Equivalent to meeting the $100 billion climate finance goal X times
EU (total)	5,527.40	55
EU (national spending)	4,166.02	42
EU (central funds)	1,361.38	14
Australia	273.89	3
Canada	326.06	3
Japan	2,259.90	23
United Kingdom	892.95	9
United States	5,838.30	58
EU, UK, US, Canada, Australia & Japan	15,118.50	151

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported that total military expenditure rose to $1,981 billion in 2020 (nearly $2 trillion or $2,000 billion), an increase of 2.6 percent from 2019. 

Oxfam’s Climate Finance Shadow Report 2020 estimates that 80 percent ($47 billion) of all reported public climate finance (2017-18) was not provided in the form of grants, but mostly as loans and other non-grant instruments. Around half of this ($24 billion) was non-concessional, offered on ungenerous terms requiring higher repayments from poor countries. Oxfam calculated that the ‘grant equivalent’ ―the true value of the loans once repayments and interest are deducted― was less than half of the amount reported. 

According to NASA, 2020 was the hottest year on record, effectively tying 2016, the previous record. 

Apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was dominated by climate-related disasters. These were largely responsible for the 389 recorded events, which resulted in 15,080 deaths, 98.4 million people affected, and economic losses of at least US$171.3 billion. 

A recent report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre highlighted that from 2008 to 2019, Fiji has been devastated with 30 climate induced disaster events that have displaced 153,000 people. Average annual asset loses due to tropical cyclones and floods are estimated at more than FJ$500 million per year which is about five per cent of Fiji GDP. The World Bank has estimated that almost FJ$9.3 billion (almost 100 percent of GDP) in investment is required over the next 10 years to strengthen Fiji’s resilience to climate change and natural hazards for decades to come.

Oxfam estimates New Zealand’s fair share of the collective goal would range between NZ$301.5m and $540m per year.  In 2018, New Zealand committed to providing $300 million in climate finance over four years. It has likely exceeded this target, but have not committed to any increase beyond 2022.

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that annual adaptation costs in developing countries are expected to reach $140-300 billion in 2030 and $280-500 billion in 2050. 

A broken asylum system: one unwilling and unable to welcome Afghan refugees

September 10, 2021

While European leaders express their concern for the safety of people in Afghanistan, little concern is given to those Afghans seeking safety in Europe. A new Greek ministerial decision to stop Afghans, amongst other nationalities, from entering Europe, and dire living conditions in “Moria 2” highlights this lack of concern, as criticised in the latest edition of the Lesbos bulletin by the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam.

In the Mavrovouni site on Lesbos, known as “Moria 2”, Afghans make up 63% of the population. In June, the Greek government decided that Afghans, along with Syrians, Somalians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis, could be returned to Turkey even if they are refugees. On 16 August, the day following the fall of Kabul, the Greek Migration Minister, Notis Mitarachi, said that “Greece may not become a gate of entrance” for Afghans. This contradicts existing obligations to welcome those seeking safety.

Vasilis Papastergiou, Legal expert at Greek Council for Refugees said:

“Greece’s decision to ban Afghan refugees, among others, from Europe is immoral. Not only does it fly in the face of international and European law, it prevents people from being able to move on with rebuilding their lives. Through a technical manipulation of their registration, these people are denied the most basic help and are thrown back into turmoil.

“In one case GCR worked on, the Greek authorities refused to look at an Afghan family’s application for asylum. Rather than examining it, as European migration law dictates, they made the unfounded decision that, despite only spending four days in Turkey before entering Greece, the family must be returned. This is notwithstanding the fact that Turkey is refusing returns from Greece since 2020 which means this family is now stuck in Lesbos.

“This is not an isolated case. Hundreds of people in ‘Moria 2’ are now in limbo while asylum seekers are used as political bargaining chips.”

This week also marks a year since the fire that burned down the notorious Moria camp in Lesbos, and the promise of “No More Morias” by EU Commissioner, Ylva Johansson. Yet, for refugees living in the hastily constructed and temporary “Moria 2”, the living conditions are as dire as ever. The European Court for Human Rights has recently said the Greek authorities failed to ensure that the camp lived up to European standards. The heatwaves this summer also highlighted the abysmal living conditions, and the Greek government’s lack of preparation means that, for the sixth year in a row, many people will spend the winter in tents.

The lack of security measures in the camp also puts women at risk. A recent survey showed that single women express their fears around getting water or using the showers and bathrooms after dark. Measures such as installing proper lighting, examining the possibility of building toilets closer to the single women’s section of the camp and upping women security presence would make this temporary camp safer for women.

Erin McKay, Oxfam’s European Migration Campaign Manager said:

“The Greek government has openly said it wants to deter, rather than welcome people. This decision has resulted in people who are seeking safety living in slum-like conditions. How the EU intends to reconcile this reality in Europe with their expressed aim to help people rebuild their lives is unclear.”

Notes:

In June, the Greek authorities decided to designate Turkey as a safe third country for people applying for asylum originating from Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan or Bangladesh. According to official data, applicants from these five countries represented 65.8% of applicants in 2020.

The European Court for Human Rights recently affirmed on 19 July 2021 that living conditions in Mavrovouni (“Moria 2”) camp continue to fall below EU legal standards.

The survey was conducted by the international organisations and NGOs operating in Lesbos.

Kiwis stand together to ask Government to step-up for Afghanistan

September 9, 2021

The United Nations has called for the international community to stand together for Afghanistan as world leaders meet at a flash appeal on Monday 13 September. Charity groups, local communities and other organisations in Aotearoa have taken the opportunity to call upon the New Zealand government to commit to more humanitarian aid. Executive Director of Oxfam Aotearoa Rachael Le Mesurier says that New Zealand needs to do more to contribute as a global citizen:

“The need is severe. Forty years of war, natural disasters, and now Covid-19 have conspired to push Afghanistan to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The $3 million of aid the government has recently provided pales in comparison to the hundreds of millions of dollars the New Zealand government spent on the military campaign in Afghanistan over the last two decades.

“We ask the government to commit to $10 million of new humanitarian aid to help people in Afghanistan. The global flash appeal for Afghanistan is asking for more than NZ$840 million to support around 11 million Afghanistan people in crisis, particularly women and girls. New Zealand can and must step-up.”

This week it was reported that even before the Taliban took over the country, the people of Afghanistan were already struggling to feed their families due to drought, loss of crops and soaring food prices. A combination of conflict, Covid-19 and drought could mean that soon millions of Afghans may experience starvation. Women are going hungry to feed their children, as 50 per cent of children under five are facing acute malnutrition and need life-saving treatment.

New Zealand was part of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for the past twenty years. Charity groups, local communities and other organisations say that New Zealand has an obligation to help the Afghan people who remain in their country even though we have left.

Along with Oxfam Aotearoa the following support this ask:

ActionStation
Afghan Cultural Association of Wellington
Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
Christian World Service
ChildFund New Zealand
Council for International Development
Hazara Association of New Zealand
Save The Children New Zealand
Tearfund NZ
United Afghan Association of Canterbury
World Vision New Zealand

One-off emergency tax on billionaires’ pandemic windfalls could fund COVID-19 jabs for entire world

September 6, 2021

A one-off 99 percent levy on billionaires’ wealth gains during the pandemic could pay for everyone on Earth to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide a US$20,000 cash grant to all unemployed workers, according to new analysis released today by Oxfam, the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Patriotic Millionaires. The organisations are calling on governments to tax the ultra-wealthy who profited from the pandemic crisis to help offset its costs.

The one-time emergency COVID-19 billionaire tax would raise US$5.4 trillion and still leave the world’s 2,690 billionaires US$55 billion richer than before the virus struck. Governments across the world are massively under-taxing the wealthiest individuals and big corporations, which is undermining the fight against COVID-19 and poverty and inequality.

The world’s billionaires have a collective net worth of US$13.5 trillion up from US$8 trillion at the beginning of the pandemic, a gain of nearly 69 percent. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ wealth increased by US$79.4 billion during the pandemic, rising from US$113 billion in March 2020 to USD$192.4 billion. Billionaire wealth has increased more over the past 17 months than it has in the past 15 years, and 325 new billionaires joined the ‘3-comma club’ since the pandemic began ―equivalent to roughly one new billionaire minted every day.

Less than one percent of people in low-income countries have received a vaccine, while the profits made by Big Pharma has seen the CEOs of Moderna and BioNTech become billionaires. The COVID-19 crisis has pushed over 200 million people into poverty and cost women around the world at least USD$800 billion in lost income in 2020, equivalent to more than the combined GDP of 98 countries. At the same time, 11 people are now dying of hunger and malnutrition each minute, outpacing COVID-19 fatalities.

Morris Pearl, former Managing Director at Blackrock and Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, said: “The surge in global billionaire wealth as millions of people have lost their lives and livelihoods is a sickness that countries can no longer bear. Rich people getting endlessly richer is not good for anyone. Our economies are choking on this hoarded resource that could be serving a much greater purpose. Billionaires need to cough up that cash ball ―and governments need to make them do it by taxing their wealth.”

Governments have in the past turned to the wealthiest in response to major crises. After World Wars I and II, one-off wealth taxes were levied in European countries and Japan to fund reconstruction. France, for example, taxed excessive wartime wealth gains at a rate of 100 percent after the Second World War. More recently, following the global financial crisis of 2008, countries including Iceland introduced temporary wealth taxes to help refill public coffers.

Policymakers, leading economists, civil society organisations, the UN, IMF and the World Bank are calling for one-time ‘solidarity taxes’ and longer-term wealth taxes targeted at the super-rich to mitigate the economic impacts of the pandemic and reduce inequalities. In December 2020, debt-saddled Argentina adopted a one-off special levy dubbed the ‘millionaire’s tax’ that has brought in around US$2.4 billion to pay for pandemic recovery.

Dr Jo Spratt, Communications and Advocacy Director of Oxfam Aotearoa said: “Billionaire Jeff Bezos could personally pay for enough vaccines for the whole world and still have more than he did at the start of the pandemic, yet he would rather spend his wealth on a thrill ride to space. COVID-19 is turning the gap between rich and poor into an unbridgeable chasm. The obscene levels of wealth gained from the pandemic by a handful of mega rich individuals should immediately be taxed at 99 percent ―enough to fully vaccinate everyone on Earth and help millions of workers who lost their jobs due to COVID-19. Only with this kind of visionary and progressive policy making will we be able to fight inequality and end poverty.”

The Festival to Fight Inequality, a two-day virtual gathering of thousands of activists from nearly 30 countries, will take place 13-14 August. They will discuss solutions to the worsening global inequality crisis, including taxing the rich.

Njoki Njehu, Pan Africa Coordinator of the Fight Inequality Alliance, said: “With a 99 percent tax on billionaires’ COVID-19 wealth gains, we are calling time on this age of greed. Billionaire wealth is not earned. Billionaires are profiting from working people’s hard graft and pain. It’s their money ’earned’ by your sweat ―and it’s high time that sweat began to pay off. Governments need to tax the rich for us to stand any chance of reversing the inequality crisis we’re in.”

Notes to editor

The cost of vaccinating the world’s adult population was calculated as follows: two doses at US$7 per dose for 5 billion people, for a total of US$70 billion. This is based on the average cost per dose. Oxfam, the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Patriotic Millionaires do not endorse such high prices for vaccines and, as part of The People’s Vaccine Alliance, are campaigning for patent-free access to allow generic manufacturers to produce COVID-19 vaccines to drive down prices.

According to the ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook 2021 Flagship Report, 220 million people are currently unemployed. Of these, 114 million people were made jobless by COVID-19. To give a one-off US$20,000 cash grant to all workers currently unemployed would cost US$4.4 trillion dollars.

Analysis of Forbes’ real-time and annual billionaire lists shows that the world’s billionaires increased their wealth by US$5.5 trillion over the past 17 months, from US$8 trillion on 18 March 2020 to US$13.5 trillion on 31 July 2021. This is more than the US$5.4 trillion billionaires gained over a period of 15 years, from 2006 to 2020. A one-off 99 percent levy on billionaires’ US$5.5 trillion pandemic windfalls would raise US$5.445 trillion.

At least nine people have become new billionaires since the beginning of the pandemic, thanks to the excessive profits pharmaceutical corporations with monopolies on COVID-19 vaccines are making.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed over 200 million people into poverty, according to estimates by World Bank researchers.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments to “consider a solidarity or wealth tax on those who have profited during the pandemic, to reduce extreme inequalities”. The IMF and the World Bank have also called for wealth taxes to help cover the costs of COVID-19.

Argentina has collected 223 billion pesos (around US$2.4 billion) from its one-off pandemic wealth tax.