As the G20 meets in Paris this week, Oxfam calls on the world’s leading economies to act now to stop the price of basic foods from surging further out of the reach of poor people. G20 leaders must also commit to a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) to help millions of people hit by the economic crisis and climate change.
[Read more…] about G20 must help resolve bankers’ tax and looming food crisis
The effectiveness of international aid, both in meeting urgent needs and in tackling entrenched poverty, is being undermined in some of the world’s poorest places. While effective aid has helped save lives, protect rights and build livelihoods, some donors’ military and security interests have skewed global aid spending; and amidst conflict, disasters and political instability have too often led to uncoordinated, unsustainable, expensive and even dangerous aid projects. Skewed aid policies and practices threaten to undermine a decade of government donors’ international commitments to effective, needs-focussed international aid. This paper sets out how these commitments are being disregarded, and how this trend can be reversed.
Donor governments are now spending proportionately more aid on countries they consider politically and militarily important while overlooking equally severe needs in crises elsewhere, said Oxfam in a new report ‘Whose Aid is it Anyway?’, released today. Since 2001 there has been a growing trend of aid being used to win “hearts and minds” in conflicts. Unfortunately, this aid is often poorly conceived, ineffective, and in some cases has turned beneficiaries and aid workers into targets for attack.
[Read more…] about Oxfam warns against using aid for political and military purposes
The disaster in Sri Lanka is deepening as a result of a second wave of flooding in the country. One million people in Sri Lanka have already been affected by the first wave of flooding.
The proliferation of substandard, dangerous medicines in poor countries is being used by rich countries as an excuse to tighten intellectual property rules, boosting the profits of large pharmaceutical companies while making it harder for poor people to get access to the medicines they need, according to a report published today by international agency Oxfam.
[Read more…] about Poor quality medicines used as an excuse to push up prices
The monsoon floods that began in Pakistan in July 2010 caused a colossal disaster. Thanks to the collective efforts of the Pakistani Government, UN agencies, international NGOs, and local relief organisations, the response has achieved major successes and seen millions of Pakistanis receive vital emergency relief. However, the disaster is not over and many people still need humanitarian assistance.
Ongoing emergency relief is just the first step in rebuilding devastated communities. A nationally-led, pro-poor reconstruction programme is needed now to create a path of sustainable development leading to a fairer and more disaster-resilient Pakistan.
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