News & Media

Gender equality: It’s your business

March 8, 2012

Gender equality gives businesses the opportunity to hire from a wider pool of talent, gain greater insights into consumers’ needs, and improve the security and quality of supply. This report asks: Is your business taking it seriously? Enlightened businesses are realising that enabling women’s full potential delivers returns. For business, equal treatment of women and men means access to the most talented pool of workers, a more balanced and talented board, greater appeal to the consumer base, an enhanced corporate reputation, and even a more stable supply of basic commodities.

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bfb07-gender-equality-its-your-business-060312-en.pdf

Pacific nations join forces to tackle international arms trade

February 29, 2012

Ending the deadly impact of the illicit trade in firearms and reducing the threat of armed conflict in the Pacific will be the focus of talks in Brisbane this week. Those attending the talks will also develop a regional position to take to negotiations at the United Nations in July for the world’s first truly global, legally binding Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The treaty will seek to establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.

Oxfam highlights poor access to water across Pacific with Queen Street water haul

February 29, 2012

In a show of solidarity with people across the Pacific, many of whom lack the basics taken for granted by Kiwis, Oxfam New Zealand’s Executive Director Barry Coates was joined by staff and supporters to carry heavy loads of water, vegetables and bedding up Queen Street at lunch time today.

A Shift in Focus: Putting the interests of Somali people first

February 23, 2012

More than six months after the UN declared a famine, Somalia is still in the throes of its worst humanitarian crisis in decades, with 325,000 children suffering acute malnutrition and 31 per cent of the population estimated to be in crisis. The impact of drought is receding, yet the outlook for the more than 2.3 million Somalis still in need of humanitarian assistance is bleak.In February 2012, key governments and institutions from the region and the wider Islamic and Western world will meet in London to chart a way forward. They must seize this opportunity to refocus on the Somali people that past policies have failed.

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A-shift-focus-somali-people-first-220212-en.pdf

End the conflicting international policies on Somalia

February 22, 2012

Oxfam called on governments meeting at the London Somalia Conference tomorrow to develop a coherent strategy towards the country that shifts away from the emphasis on short term security and anti-terror concerns, and towards a long term engagement that prioritises the interests of ordinary Somalis.

The scale of this crisis is so great that I have to speak out

February 20, 2012

“The scale of this crisis is so great that I have to speak out so that the world reacts” declares musician Baaba Maal after visiting the south of Mauritania.

During a 48 hour visit to the Gorgol region of Mauritania, the musician Baaba Maal discovered the harsh reality for communities affected by a food crisis that now touches one in four people across the country. Today 700,000 people are food insecure in Mauritania.