Rachel Schaevitz

Oxfam reaction to Green Climate Fund pledging summit

October 30, 2019

Responding to the outcome of the pledging conference to the Green Climate Fund in Paris, Armelle Le Comte, Climate and Energy Advocacy Manager for the Oxfam confederation, said:

“The pledges made today send an important signal that wealthy countries should help the developing world face the growing perils of climate change. It is encouraging that a range of countries including Norway, Sweden, Germany, the UK and France will double their contributions compared with the previous financing period. This will allow the fund to continue its important mission to assist developing countries in adapting to worsening climate impacts.

“However, it is appalling that Australia and the US have failed to provide any funding at all, while many other nations have made only token gestures or contributions far below their fair share. Millions of people around the world are already facing hunger, homelessness and extreme poverty because of the climate crisis. Oxfam urges wealthy countries that have not pledged anything or remain far below their fair share to increase their contributions ahead of the COP25 climate summit in December.”

Dr Joanna Spratt, Advocacy and Campaigns Director for Oxfam New Zealand said:
“We welcome the increased pledge from the New Zealand government to help fund crucial climate mitigation and adaptation projects around the world. This is a win for the hundreds of people who have been emailing the Foreign Minister demanding that we stand with the Pacific and increase our support for countries where the effects of climate breakdown are felt the most.

“A US$10m replenishment to the Green Climate Fund is an improvement, increasing our last pledge by five times. This will help to support the dozens of projects in poorer countries waiting for new funding. However, if we were honouring our fair share of responsibility to fund a climate-resilient future for people in poor countries, we would need to have pledged US$50-90m this week.

“In the age of increasingly insular and isolationist politics, we need to be growing our support for multilateral mechanisms to tackle climate destruction. We also need to listen to the voices of the countries bearing the brunt of climate change for a collective commitment to support them.

“We urge the government to outline a plan for increasing our Green Climate Fund contribution further, as well as climate finance in general, in line with a rising aid budget so that we can be contributing our fair share.”

Zero Carbon Bill risks failing to live up to its purpose, Oxfam says

October 22, 2019

In response to the Environment Select Committee’s report on the Zero Carbon Bill, Oxfam New Zealand spokesperson Alex Johnston said:

“To live up to its stated purpose of helping keep global warming within 1.5 degrees, the Zero Carbon Bill needs significant amendments when it goes back before the House to give us the transformative targets that we need, backed up by proper legal accountability,” Johnston said.

“A 2030 methane target of only 10% hamstrings our ambition and puts an unfair burden on the other sectors of the economy to pick up the slack. Likewise, the methane target range for 2050 is too low to encompass the scenarios for staying under 1.5 degrees laid out by the IPCC.

“We need a version of the Bill that will see every sector pitching in to at the very least halve our overall emissions by 2030. This is the bare minimum required by developed countries to take responsibility for our pollution and to keep the world on track to achieve the aims of the Paris Agreement.

“To not do so is to let down the i-Kiribati and people of Tuvalu. It indicates that we will not act for a 1.5-degree future or live up to our responsibilities towards our Pacific neighbours.

“It is good to see more scope for the courts to make sure decision-makers are taking targets and emissions budgets into account, but we had also hoped to see proper legal accountability restored in the Bill, so there would be remedies available if these targets are not going to be met.

“Every percent of emissions reductions, and every tenth of a degree of warming matters – what targets we set and how we enforce them determines the value we place on the millions of lives being disrupted right now by climate breakdown.

“We hope that those MPs who gave messages of hope to the 170,000 New Zealanders striking for ambitious climate action last month will put forward amendments to get this Bill into shape, so that we can play our part for climate justice.”

Notes for editors:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C (SR15) laid out four scenario pathways for staying within 1.5 degrees of global warming. While the interquartile range for methane emissions was a 24-47% reduction by 2050 (from 2010 levels), the full range of pathways was up to a 69% reduction by 2050 (IPCC SR1.5, Figure SPM.3B).

Rohingya Refugees: working for peace, longing for home

August 28, 2019

Two years on

There are close to a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh – more than 700,000 arrived following the violence of 25 August 2017. Some have been there since the 1990s. Overcrowding and poor infrastructure leaves people exposed to diseases, especially during monsoon season, and lack of legal status prevents refugees from working, studying, getting specialist medical help, or reporting crimes. Oxfam’s Senior Communications Officer in Cox’s Bazar, Mutasim Billah, explains that a ban on refugees working and the lack of education in the camps has left many refugees feeling as though they are treading water.

Two years is a long time for lives to be left on hold, and for many Rohingya this has been the case for even longer.

Though not without worries, some Rohingya refugees in the camps of Cox’s Bazar prefer sometimes to focus on the brighter side, to share examples of how they can help themselves and their communities. They were proud to tell us how they were managing, just getting on with life.

Neighbours in a crowded community

Down a crowded path between the camp shelters, Layla, 30, is a Rohingya woman who has become something of a local hero for coming up with a simple solution to an everyday problem in her neighbourhood. As it starts to rain, we huddle together by her front door in plastic chairs carried over by neighbours, under a cleverly woven awning made of palm fronds and empty rice sacks. I could have reached across the path with arms outstretched and touched both Layla’s front door and that of her opposite neighbour across the path.

Gesturing out the front door, my colleague pointed to the host community village at the end of the lane, not 10 meters from this dense grouping of camp shelters. Layla explained, “When we first arrived here, we did not have a good relationship with our neighbours from the host community. Every day there were quarrels! For us the biggest issue was water. We want water, the host community wants water. Everyone would just go to the taps with as many bottles as they could carry and collect as much as they could.”

Water is scarce – so how to keep the peace?

“I didn’t want to see the women quarreling at the taps, so I suggested a system. At our water tap, each Rohingya family can take two pitchers of water first. Then, the host community can come and take whatever they need. If there is a bit more water, the Rohingya can come take another pitcher. I fill the containers myself for the families to come and collect.

“I manage it this way to keep the peace in the community. Sometimes people come and thank me, and I feel good. We are managing here like this!

“Neither of us is perfect, but we are very thankful to the local people for letting us stay here. We can be respectful of each other’s values and culture while we are here.

“But if you ask us, we all say we want our citizenship, our nationality. We want to go home.”

The changing role for men

We also spoke to Kabir, who belongs to one of Oxfam’s men’s gender group which meet to talk about changing gender roles, gender-based violence and the specific challenges men face living in the camps and how to cope. Oxfam has 25 men’s groups serving about 500 men across seven camps.

Kabir told us, “There was so much we didn’t know. We learned about our responsibility to our society, our home, and our women. Women work very hard at home!

“Most of the time we forget to acknowledge that. When we were in our own country, no one ever told us to try to understand women’s contributions. Every home had conflicts. Now that we understand this, we don’t have conflict anymore – I don’t fight with my wife.”

Providing personal fulfilment

These men’s groups are not only critical for addressing long term challenges around transforming gender roles in the camps, they also give men like Kabir a place to vent frustrations and build confidence.

He says, “I only had one year of school, I am definitely not an educated person. In the group, I learned to write my name. It feels good writing your own name! Maybe as an educated person, you wouldn’t understand, but this is a really fulfilling experience for me.”

Longing for home

Refugees like Layla and Kabir work hard to find ways to cope, but in many ways, their lives are in limbo.

“Now we are safe. We got a lot of support from the people living in this village. They helped us when there was no one. They provided many things,” says Kabir with deep gratitude.

“But in the future, I just want to go home. The camp is not a good place to live for your whole life. Here we are living on support. Mentally no one is happy as all of us want to go back. But for that, we need our nationality. It is our security. Without having that, we cannot go back.”

Oxfam is providing vital aid including clean water and food to Rohingya refugees. So far, we’ve helped more than a quarter of a million (266,000) people in Bangladesh and we provide ongoing humanitarian assistance to 100,000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims confined to camps in Myanmar.

Public Good or Private Wealth?

January 21, 2019

Our economy is broken, with hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top.

Universal health, education and other public services reduce the gap between rich and poor, and between genders. Fairer taxation of the wealthiest can help pay for them.

Read our report ‘Public Good or Private Wealth?’ to learn how we can achieve this.
See the report’s methodology here.

NZ’s two richest men gain $1.1b while poorest Kiwis lose out

January 21, 2019

The two richest people in New Zealand added an astounding NZ$1.1 billion to their fortunes in 2017-2018, while the wealth of the poorest half of the country decreased overall, according to new Oxfam research to be released today.

The report also reveals that the richest 5% of the population collectively owns more wealth than the bottom 90%.

Oxfam’s research forms part of a global report released to coincide with this week’s annual meeting of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, as they gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is scheduled to attend the meeting, which focuses on global politics, economics and social issues.

Published later today, the full report, Public Good or Private Wealth?, shows how the growing gap between rich and poor is undermining the fight against poverty, damaging local economies and fuelling public anger across the globe. The report reveals how governments are exacerbating inequality by, on the one hand, underfunding public services such as healthcare and education, while, on the other, under taxing corporations and the wealthy, and failing to clamp down on tax avoidance. The research also finds that consistently, women and girls are hardest hit by rising economic inequality.

Rachael Le Mesurier, executive director of Oxfam New Zealand, said: “We have a long way to go before we can say that every Kiwi is getting a fair go. We know inequality is harmful for us all. It perpetuates poverty, erodes trust, fuels crime, makes us unhappy, negates economic growth, and robs opportunity from the poorest – including shortening their lives. And women and girls suffer the most – across their lifetimes women have less opportunity than men to get paid work, they earn less and are less able to invest in assets.

“One of the key things we can do to tackle inequality here and across the world is to tax wealth more. Our taxes pay for schools, hospitals, and infrastructure such as communications and roads on which we all rely. Across the world, rich multinational corporations and extremely wealthy individuals are not paying their fair share. When big business and the super-rich don’t pay their fair share of tax, the rest of us pay the price – with kids without teachers, long waiting lists for health interventions, and not enough police in our communities.

“But to tax wealth more, we need to see it. We need more transparency in our tax system, both for multinational corporations and extremely wealthy individuals. We need more information in the public realm so that we can make sure that the wealthy pay their fair share – and that we grow a New Zealand where everyone gets a fair go in life.

“We are eagerly anticipating the release of the Tax Working Group’s final report early this year. As a country we’ve been talking about wealth taxes, such as capital gains, for some time now. To tackle the stubborn inequality that plagues ordinary, working Kiwis, we need to stop talking and start doing,” said Le Mesurier. “We hope the Tax Working Group takes this opportunity to recommend greater wealth taxes and more transparency, and we encourage the government to take the bold action necessary to reduce inequality”.

Notes to editors

Oxfam’s calculations are based on the most up to date, comprehensive data sources available. Figures on the share of wealth owned by the poorest half of humanity come from Credit Suisse Wealth Databook and relate to the period June 2017 – June 2018. Figures on the very richest in society are based on more detailed data from the annual Forbes ‘Billionaires List’ and relates to the period March 2017 – March 2018.
The two richest New Zealanders are Graeme Hart and Richard Chandler. They own wealth of US$10.1 billion and US$2.1 billion respectively. In 2016 Singapore-based Chandler was named as using Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers tax avoidance controversy.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Kelsey-Rae Taylor | [email protected] | 021 298 5894

Billionaire fortunes grew by $2.5 billion a day last year as poorest saw their wealth fall

January 21, 2019

Billionaire fortunes increased globally by 12 percent last year – or US$2.5 billion a day – while the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity saw their wealth decline by 11 percent, reveals a new report from Oxfam today.

The report is being launched as political and business leaders gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Earlier today Oxfam New Zealand reported that the two richest people in New Zealand added an astounding NZ$1.1 billion to their fortunes in 2017-2018, while the wealth of the poorest half of the country decreased overall by NZ$1.3 billion.

Public Good or Private Wealth shows the growing gap between rich and poor is undermining the fight against poverty, damaging our economies and fuelling public anger across the globe. It reveals how governments are exacerbating inequality by underfunding public services, such as healthcare and education, on the one hand, while under taxing corporations and the wealthy, and failing to clamp down on tax dodging, on the other. It also finds that women and girls are hardest hit by rising economic inequality.

Rachael Le Mesurier, Executive Director of Oxfam New Zealand, said:

“The size of your bank account should not dictate how many years your children spend in school, or how long you live – yet this is the reality in too many countries across the globe. While corporations and the super-rich enjoy low tax bills, millions of girls are denied a decent education and women are dying for lack of maternity care.”

The report reveals that the number of billionaires has almost doubled since the financial crisis, with a new billionaire created every two days between 2017 and 2018, yet wealthy individuals and corporations are paying lower rates of tax than they have in decades.

Getting the richest one percent to pay just 0.5 percent extra tax on their wealth could raise more money than it would cost to educate the 262 million children out of school and provide healthcare that would save the lives of 3.3 million people.
Just four cents in every dollar of tax revenue collected globally came from taxes on wealth such as inheritance or property in 2015. These types of tax have been reduced or eliminated in many rich countries and are barely implemented in the developing world.
Tax rates for wealthy individuals and corporations have also been cut dramatically. For example, the top rate of personal income tax in rich countries fell from 62 percent in 1970 to just 38 percent in 2013. The average rate in poor countries is just 28 percent.
In some countries, such as Brazil, the poorest 10 percent of society are now paying a higher proportion of their incomes in tax than the richest 10 percent.

At the same time, public services are suffering from chronic underfunding or being outsourced to private companies that exclude the poorest people. In many countries a decent education or quality healthcare has become a luxury only the rich can afford. Every day 10,000 people die because they lack access to affordable healthcare. In developing countries, a child from a poor family is twice as likely to die before the age of five than a child from a rich family. In countries like Kenya a child from a rich family will spend twice as long in education as one from a poor family.

Cutting taxes on wealth predominantly benefits men who own 50 percent more wealth than women globally, and control over 86 percent of corporations.

Conversely, when public services are neglected poor women and girls suffer most. Girls are pulled out of school first when the money isn’t available to pay fees, and women clock up hours of unpaid work looking after sick relatives when healthcare systems fail. Oxfam estimates that if all the unpaid care work carried out by women across the globe was done by a single company it would have an annual turnover of $10 trillion – 43 times that of Apple, the world’s biggest company.

“People across the globe are angry and frustrated. Governments must now deliver real change by ensuring corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of tax and investing this money in free healthcare and education that meets the needs of everyone – including women and girls whose needs are so often overlooked. Governments can build a brighter future for everyone – not just a privileged few,” added Le Mesurier.

Notes to editors

The report, methodology document explaining how Oxfam calculated the figures is available here. The data set is available on request.

Oxfam’s calculations are based on the most up to date, comprehensive data sources available. Figures on the share of wealth owned by the poorest half of humanity come from Credit Suisse Wealth Databook and relate to the period June 2017 – June 2018. Figures on the very richest in society are based on more detailed data from the Annual Forbes ‘Billionaires List’ and relates to the period March 2017 – March 2018.