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Oxfam Reaction to the UN State of Food Security and Nutrition Report 2024

In reaction to the UN’s 2024 edition of “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” (SOFI) report, which showed that one out of 11 people in the world, and one out of every five in Africa, may have faced hunger in 2023, Eric Munoz, Oxfam’s food policy expert, said:

“Global hunger remains stuck at shamefully high levels, driven by many reasons that together become convenient excuses for our governments to avoid decisive action. We grow enough food to feed people everywhere in the world and there are solutions to eradicate this terrible scourge.

“Countries facing high levels of hunger tend to be poor, highly-indebted, even exploited. They are also the most vulnerable to climate-related and economic shocks. Nearly 28 million people in East Africa are severely hungry because of worsening floods and droughts, conflict and poverty, while Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan struggle under a debt burden of $65 billion. They also need $7.49 billion in humanitarian assistance, but donors have to date met less than 20 percent of this. They are being short-changed at every turn.

“The UN today identifies a hole of trillions of dollars needed to end hunger.  Only bold political action can fill this gap. Private financing can be a partial solution, but runs the risk of increasing inequalities and sidelining local communities. More public funding is required especially into smallholder farmers in poorer countries and stronger social protection schemes, wide-scale debt relief, and for rich countries to meet their humanitarian and climate finance pledges.

“The world’s poorest people are paying the highest price of hunger. We need deeper, structural policy and social change to address all of the drivers of hunger, including economic injustice, climate change and conflict. We support Brazil’s efforts, as part of its G20 presidency, to form the new Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.”

Contact

Rachel Schaevitz, rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz  

Notes:

Water War Crimes: How the Israeli Government has weaponised water in its military campaign in Gaza

This report presents a detailed analysis of how the Government of Israel has systematically weaponized water against the Palestinians in its latest assault on Gaza, raising grave concerns of human rights violations and breaches of international law. It highlights ongoing violations of international laws, showing how the Government of Israel has used water deprivation to dehumanize and ultimately threaten Palestinian lives since the 1993 Oslo Accords. This culminates, in a brutal fashion, in the current military operation in Gaza.

The UN Commission of Inquiry finds that Israel’s military operations and civilian policies relating to water in Gaza, following the attacks by Palestinian armed groups on Israel on 7 October 2023, are indiscriminate and disproportionate. The ‘total siege’ which the Government of Israel is using to collectively punish the entire civilian population in Gaza, including restrictions on water, electricity, fuel deliveries and the entry of essential supplies, has compounded the suffering of a population that is now on the brink of famine. The Israeli military’s continuous and extensive bombardment, which has destroyed key roads and essential civilian infrastructure, has further debilitated humanitarian efforts, leaving the population in dire conditions.

Key findings include:
The systematic destruction and obstruction of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure has led to severe water shortages and health crises. Oxfam’s detailed breakdown shows significant damage to water production wells, storage reservoirs, desalination plants and wastewater facilities, drastically reducing water availability and creating unsanitary conditions. Oxfam’s attempts to import critical supplies like water desalination units and repair materials have been obstructed by Israeli restrictions.


The systematic destruction of water facilities, bureaucratic hurdles blocking humanitarian supplies, and inflammatory statements by Israeli officials12 show that the Israeli government is at best reckless as to the humanitarian crisis and its IHL duty to protect civilians. Israel’s military approach has created conditions of destruction and widespread suffering, underscoring the severe nature of the crisis in Gaza resulting from a policy of deprivation and denial.

Read the full report: Water War Crimes report

“Least Cost” means “More Damage” in Government’s Emissions Plan

Oxfam Aotearoa is dismayed by the lack of ambition in the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan released today.

‘Relying on the least cost option of planting more pine trees, rather than cutting climate pollution, will only cause more damage for communities in Aotearoa and the Pacific on the frontlines of the climate crisis.’ said Oxfam Aotearoa’s Climate Justice Lead, Nick Henry.

‘The gap is growing between our domestic policies and our international commitments. This will cost New Zealand billions of dollars by 2030 if we rely on buying offsets from other countries. The lack of ambition in today’s plan will increase that cost by tens of millions.

‘Today’s announcement makes it clear that the Government now has no plan to reach net-zero, with emissions exceeding net-zero budgets after 2030. The cost of cutting climate pollution is being kicked down the road, while communities in Aotearoa and the Pacific continue to suffer from the worsening climate crisis.

‘We are disappointed to see the lack of significant support for public and active transport in the plan. Improving access to public transport would be one of the best climate wins, and would also help reduce the cost of living for so many.

‘The plan does nothing to fix the Emissions Trading Scheme. We need leadership from Government to stop subsidising pollution through free allocation and change settings that reward planting pine trees rather than cutting gross emissions.

‘It is not credible to claim that increasing oil and gas exploration is compatible with reducing emissions. It is the wrong century for “lesser evil” thinking that fossil gas is better than coal, when renewable energy options are already here and getting cheaper every year. Aotearoa urgently needs to stop producing and burning fossil fuels. Instead, we need a just transition to renewable energy for workers, communities, and the planet.’

Notes for editors:

1. The Emissions Reduction Plan states: ‘The gap between the first and second emissions budgets and the NDC is 101 Mt CO2-e.’ [p. 34].

2. Mt CO2-e is Megatonnes of Carbon-Dioxide equivalent emissions, including emissions of all Greenhouse Gases. New Zealand has committed to cutting net emissions to no more than 571 Mt CO2-e for 2021-2030 in our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

3. In 2023, Treasury calculated the gap between ERP1 and ERP2 and the NDC as 99.2 Mt CO2-e and estimated that purchasing international offsets to cover this gap would cost between $3.7 billion and $20.6 billion, with a mid-point estimate of $8.6 billion, assuming all emissions budgets were met. [p. 86]

Even assuming Treasury’s lowest cost estimate, increasing the gap between emissions and the NDC commitment by two percent, as today’s plan does, would cost New Zealand at least $80 million.

4. For more on the urgent need for a just transition from fossil fuels, see Oxfam Aotearoa’s 2023 report Closing Time: Why Aotearoa needs a just transition from fossil fuel production now.

For more information:

Rachel Schaevitz/ rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

Former heads of state and government call on G20 leaders to back global deal to tax the ultra-rich

Close to 20 former heads of state and government of G20 and higher-income countries, including former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, former Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Löfven, former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gilliard, former Prime Minister of France Dominique de Villepin and former President of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, called on current G20 leaders —including US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer— to support a “new global deal to tax the world’s ultra-rich individuals” in an open letter published today.

Ensuring the ultra-rich pay their fair share “would reduce inequality and raise trillions of dollars necessary for investments in industrial policy and a just transition.”

The former leaders state in the letter that “Brazil’s G20 proposal underlines the opportunity to write a new story about taxation for the first time in a generation” at a time when “billionaires, globally, are paying a tax rate equivalent to less than 0.5 percent of their wealth.”

The Brazilian government, in its presidency of the G20, is championing a new global tax standard on taxing the ultra-rich. The letter by former heads of state and government of G20 countries comes alongside talks across G20 capitals to back the deal, and ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers
and central bankers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 25 July. Governments including Brazil, South Africa, France and Spain have already voiced their support. The leaders write: “rare is a proposal that asks us as former leaders to rally in unity —and that we recognize as politically possible. This, clearly, is one.”

Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Member of Club de Madrid, said: “Brazil is to be commended for bringing the issue of a global tax standard on the world’s billionaires to the G20 table. This builds on an earlier G20 decision to support a global minimum tax of fifteen per cent on multinational companies. The latter initiative took years to come to fruition. Both initiatives build global cooperation to tackle tax avoidance.”

The letter, which was coordinated by Club de Madrid and Oxfam, warns that “the share of income of the top 1 percent of earners has risen by 45 percent over four decades while top tax rates on their incomes were cut by roughly a third.”

Note to editors:

Full open letter and signatories is available on Club Madrid’s site.  

For more information:

Rachel Schaevitz/ rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

Ukraine : NGOs urge warring parties to protect civilians

Oxfam strongly condemns the attack on the children’s hospital in Kyiv

Oxfam, CARE, Humanity & Inclusion, and We World, strongly denounce the harm caused to civilians by bombing and shelling of towns and cities in the ongoing war in Ukraine. We condemn all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. This includes violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and feasible precautions, the use of indiscriminate attacks, the use of internationally prohibited weapons, such as landmines and cluster munitions, the attacks on civilians and civilian objects, including health facilities and other critical civilian infrastructure, and attacks against medical and humanitarian workers.

Since the beginning of the year at least 860 civilians have been killed and 2,580 wounded in Ukraine in at least over 950 incidents involving the use of explosive weapons with wide area effect in populated areas. 

The month of May has registered the highest record of civilian casualties since June 2023 and a significant increase in civilian deaths compared to April 2024. This increase is mainly due to the ground offensive launched by the Russian Federation in the Kharkiv region. More than half of the civilians killed or wounded were in the Kharkiv region, while the vast majority of civilian casualties were in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government. 

While the ground offensive launched by the Russian Federation has severe consequences for civilians, they have overall been particularly exposed to the use of explosive weapons since the escalation of the war in February 2022. 

The year 2024 continues to see significant damage inflicted on civilians in the conduct of the war.

The bombing and shelling of Ukrainian towns and villages is directly affecting the civilian population, who face a high risk of death, war-related injuries and psychological trauma, resulting in increased needs for rehabilitation, psychological and psychosocial support and other services. The new offensive by the armed forces of the Russian Federation is leading to an upsurge in bombardments in populated areas, with devastating consequences and reverberating effects for civilians in terms of access to essential services, health, food and energy supplies. 

We call upon governments to urgently endorse and implement the Political Declaration on strengthening the protection of civilians from the humanitarian consequences arising from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

SIGNATORIES:

  • CARE
  • Humanity & Inclusion
  • Oxfam
  • We World

____

Notes to editor: 

We choose to highlight 22 significant incidents, based on the reports of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, along with 5 last significant incidents that occurred in June 2024, involving the use of explosive weapons with wide area effect in populated areas that have resulted in the death or injury of civilians. 

January 2024

  • On 2, 8 and 23 January, missile and loitering munitions attacks struck several cities and towns, including Kyiv and Kharkiv, killing at least 26 civilians and injuring 190.
  • On 6 January, a missile strike in Pokrovsk and Rivne, Donetsk region, killed members of two families and injured another 10 civilians. Two boys are still considered missing.
  • On 21 January, shelling hit two markets and a residential area in the city of Donetsk, killing 24 civilians (15 women and 9 men) and injuring at least 11 civilians.

February 2024

  • On 3 February, an attack struck a bakery and a café in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, which reportedly resulted in 29 people killed and 9 injured. At least 13 individuals among those killed and injured were civilians.
  • On 9 February, seven civilians were killed, including two men, two women and three young boys, when loitering munitions struck a fuel station in a residential area of Kharkiv, starting a fire that burned at least 15 residential homes to the ground.
  • On 14 February, a central hospital in Selydove, Donetsk region, was struck, resulting in two women and a 9-year-old boy killed and at least two women, one man and one boy injured.
  • On 20 February, a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) attack killed an entire family in their home in Nova Sloboda, Sumy region.

March 2024

  • On 2 March, 11 civilians were killed and 8 civilians injured in Odesa from a loitering munitions attack. Three families lost at least two family members in this attack. This incident was the deadliest for children in more than nine months.
  • On 12 March, 6 civilians were killed and at least 25 injured when missiles struck Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region.
  • On 15 March, two consecutive missile strikes within 15 minutes reportedly killed 21 and injured 66 individuals in Odesa. The HRMMU has verified that at least 20 among those killed and injured were civilians, some of whom were emergency and medical workers who came to help the injured after the first attack.

April 2024

  • On 5 April, 4 civilians were killed and 27 civilians injured in Zaporizhzhia as a result of consecutive missile strikes. Journalists were among the injured.
  • On 19 April, missiles and loitering munitions struck railway infrastructure and its vicinity in Dnipropetrovsk region, including in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Synelnykove, killing 8 civilians and injuring 22. One strike killed four members of one family, including two children, leaving an injured 6-year-old boy an orphan.
  • On 29 April, what appears to have been a cluster munition struck a seafront promenade in Odesa city in the evening hours, killing 7 civilians and injuring dozens, including a 4-year-old girl.

May 2024

  • On May 19, two consecutive strikes on a lakeside recreation center in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, killed 6 civilians and wounded at least 13. 
  • On May 23, missiles hit a printing works in the city of Kharkiv, killing 7 employees and wounding at least 21 civilians. 
  • On May 25, an attack hit a large construction hypermarket in the city of Kharkiv, killing 19 civilians and wounding 54, including many employees.
  • The same day, a missile hit Kharkiv city center, wounding 25 civilians. 
  • Around midnight on May 30 and 31, several missiles hit a residential area of Kharkiv, including a multi-storey building, killing 9 civilians and wounding at least 15.

June 2024

For more information:

Rachel Schaevitz/ rachel.schaevitz@oxfam.org.nz

Gaza hunger figures reflect “shameful failure” of global leaders: Oxfam

In response to the latest Global Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published today, which warns that a high risk of famine persists across the Gaza Strip, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Sally Abi Khalil, said:

“The figures in this report are a shameful testament to the failure of world leaders to heed earlier warnings and hold Israel to account for its deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war. The slight improvement of conditions in the north shows that Israel can end human suffering when it chooses – but just as quickly those gains can vanish when access is again constrained, as the report warns it is now. 

“Israel’s policy of deliberate deprivation across Gaza has created this unprecedented situation where we are witnessing the world’s highest concentration of people in Al-Mawasi, a so-called humanitarian safe zone, without access to food, water or sanitation.

“Just days ago, we learned that two more babies starved to death in Beit Lahiya. The reported death toll from hunger and thirst – which is likely to be much higher – is now 31. These aren’t just numbers – they embody each grieving mother and every child lost to the most unspeakable fate.

“Not only is there a lack of food, but safe drinking water is now an increasingly rare resource, which is accelerating the spread of disease.

“Each day without a ceasefire, more lives will be lost. The clock is ticking. World leaders must increase pressure on all parties to agree to a permanent ceasefire, and on Israel to stop starving Palestinian children to death, by allowing sufficient humanitarian aid to reach them.

“Israel must ensure that movement of aid into and within Gaza, including through checkpoints, is predictable, unfettered and dramatically accelerated, with all roads operational, the entry of sufficient fuel allowed, and access safely facilitated.”

____

Note to editor: 

  • Global Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Report ––  Gaza Strip: Acute Food Insecurity Situation for 1 May – 15 June and Projection for 16 June – 30 September 2024

Copyright © 2024 Oxfam Aotearoa.

Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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