News & Media

Yemen cholera worst on record & numbers still rising

July 21, 2017

The number of people with cholera in Yemen is now the largest ever in any country in a single year since records began, Oxfam said today. At over 360,000 suspected cholera cases in just three months since the outbreak started, it is now already the largest number of cases in a year, topping the previous annual record of 340,311 in Haiti in 2011.

Though there are signs that the increase in numbers is slowing, the country’s rainy season from July to September will increase the risk of the disease spreading further. It is feared that the total number of people infected could eventually rise to over 600,000, making it one of the largest outbreak since records began in 1949.

Almost 2,000 people in Yemen have died from suspected cholera since late April this year and many more are now at risk, weakened by hunger, disease and the ongoing war.

Nigel Timmins, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director who has just returned back from a fact finding mission to Yemen, said:

“It is quite frankly staggering that in just three months more people in Yemen have contracted cholera than any country has suffered in a single year since modern records began. Cholera has spread unchecked in a country already on its knees after two years of war and which is teetering on the brink of famine. For many people, weakened by war and hunger, cholera is the knockout blow.

“This is a massive crisis needing a massive response – if anything the numbers we have are likely to underestimate the scale of the crisis. So far funding from government donors to pay for the aid effort has been lacklustre at best, less than half is what is needed.

“Cholera is easy to treat and simple to prevent. We need a massive well coordinated effort to get clean water and decent sanitation to people and simple things like soap to keep them safe from disease. We need an end to country entry restrictions of supplies and people so that we can get on with the job.

“The war has destroyed the economy and left millions without jobs or the means to earn a living and forced 3 million people to flee their homes. It has precipitated a crisis which has left 7 million people on the brink of starvation. And the war has destroyed or damaged more than half the country’s health facilities and ushered in one of the world’s worst cholera outbreaks in over 50 years.

“Vital public servants such as health workers have not been paid for nearly a year. Hospitals, ports, roads and bridges have been bombed. All this is crippling efforts to tackle the cholera crisis.

“Those countries providing the arms and military support, such as the US and the UK, are fuelling a war that is causing wide-spread suffering and tipping a whole nation towards a catastrophe. It is hard to imagine how much more Yemen can take before it collapses entirely.”

War has had a devastating effect on Yemen’s people and its infrastructure – almost 5,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting and parts of the country stand on the brink of famine. Health, water and sanitation systems have been bombed to the point of collapse leaving over 15 million people without adequate access to clean drinking water and safe sanitation. Millions more are hungry and need help in getting a decent meal.

Waste is piling up on the streets and in the settlements of displaced people because sanitation services, severely damaged by the two year war, cannot cope. Aid agencies tackling the cholera crisis are in danger of being overwhelmed by the scale of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the world’s major arms exporters – which include the UK and US – are making more money from arming the Saudi led coalition force than they are spending on Yemen’s humanitarian appeal. In 2016, Saudi Arabia spent nearly $3 billion on arms from the world’s major arms exporters. As of this month, many of those same governments had given just $620 million toward the $2.1 billion UN appeal for Yemen.

Oxfam is calling for an immediate cease-fire to enable a nationwide cholera campaign to tackle the disease unhindered by fighting and allow people to get their lives back together. It is calling for the opening of ports and Sanaa airport to allow a massive injection of aid and for the UN and aid agencies’ appeal to be fully funded.

Notes to editors:

Footage available on request

Figures of previous cholera outbreaks taken from the World Health Organisation’s Global Health Observatory data repository
http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.175?lang=en

From 27 April to 18 July 2017, 362,545 suspected cholera cases and 1,817 deaths (CFR: 0.5%) have been reported in 91.3% (21/23) of Yemen governorates, and 88% (293/333) of the districts. YEMEN: Cholera Outbreak Daily epidemiology update 19 July 2017 WHO
http://www.emro.who.int/yem/yemeninfocus/situation-reports.html

The largest outbreak since modern records began was in Haiti where the total number of cholera cases reached 754,373 between 2010 and 2015.

Your questions answered: Oxfam’s Inequality Index

July 20, 2017

A computer classroom in Oneputa Combined School, northern Namibia. The Namibian government is committed to reducing inequality and secondary education is free for all students. Photo: John Hogg/World Bank

The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index ranks 152 governments on their policies in three areas critical to reducing the gap between rich and poor: social spending, progressive taxation and labour rights.

Since the index was launched many people have been in touch to find out more – our response to some of the most common comments and questions are outlined below.

Why is Oxfam talking about inequality – shouldn’t it be focused on tackling poverty?

Extreme inequality is trapping millions of people in poverty and must be stopped. The World Bank estimates that 700 million fewer people would have been living in poverty at the end of last decade if action had been taken to reduce the gap between rich and poor. The World Bank has also been clear that there will be no way we can meet the global goal to eliminate extreme poverty unless we redouble efforts to tackle inequality.

My country isn’t ranked correctly.

As a global tool, the index only offers an indication of how well governments are tackling inequality – it doesn’t provide a comprehensive assessment.

The index focuses on taxation, social spending and labor rights because there is widespread evidence that progressive action in these areas can significantly reduce inequality. However, it does not include all policies that have an impact on inequality. For example, it doesn’t look at the distribution of land ownership or the extent to which a country operates as a tax haven. We hope to expand the indicators in future editions of the index and this could have a significant impact on the rankings of some countries. For example, Belgium would fall down the rankings if its role as a tax haven was assessed by the index.

The index is based on the most up to date data that is available from governments and international institutions however it will miss very recent developments. Several countries including Argentina and France have recently made cuts in social spending or corporate taxes which are not reflected in the index – they can expect to slip down the ranking in the next edition of the index.

This is left-wing propaganda.

Oxfam is a non-party political organization. However, we have a duty to draw attention to government action and inaction across the globe that is exacerbating poverty and inequality.

Why isn’t my country included in the index?

Some countries have been excluded from the index because there was either insufficient data or major question marks about the quality of the data available. The extremely poor level of public data available for some countries on policies relevant to reducing inequality is a cause for serious concern -, especially in the Middle East. Oxfam is calling for governments to address this data gap.

My country is ranked towards the top of the index – does that mean all is well?

The index ranks countries in relation to each other. This means countries at the top of the index are doing better at tackling inequality than countries further down but it doesn’t mean they are doing everything they could be tackle inequality.

Even Sweden, Belgium and Denmark which top the index can do more. Sweden’s low corporate tax rates benefit wealthy business while its high rate of VAT disproportionately impacts the poorest, Belgium’s corporate tax incentives allow big business to avoid paying their fair share, and Denmark has cut taxes for its wealthiest citizens. Denmark and Belgium have also cut social welfare for their poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

Overall the index found that 112 out of the 152 countries assessed are doing less than half of what they should be doing to tackle inequality in the three policy areas assessed by the index.

What is Oxfam calling for?

The index shows that inequality is not inevitable. It is a policy choice. Government choices matter when it comes to tackling inequality.

Oxfam is calling for all governments to do more to tackle inequality by increasing and improving social spending, building fairer tax systems, and ensuring workers – especially women workers – are better paid and better protected.

Governments must also work with international institutions to improve the quality and quantity of publicly available data on inequality levels in a country and the policies that governments are taking to tackle it.

A key thing the New Zealand government must do right now is crush tax avoidance by multinationals. Our broken tax system means big companies can legally avoid paying a lot of tax in New Zealand, and it’s depriving our social services of millions of dollars each year.

We need you to join us in telling our Minister of Revenue, Judith Collins, that we want our tax policies cleaned up to keep public spending money in New Zealand and to close the gap between the rich and the poor.

Sign the petition

The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index: A new global ranking of governments based on what they are doing to tackle the gap between rich and poor

July 17, 2017

In 2015, the leaders of 193 governments promised to reduce inequality as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Without reducing inequality, meeting the SDG to eliminate poverty will be impossible. Now Development Finance International and Oxfam have produced the first index to measure the commitment of governments to reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.

The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index uses a new database of indicators covering 152 countries, which measures government action on social spending, tax and labour rights – three areas found to be critical to reducing inequality.

This first version of the CRI Index is work in progress, and DFI and Oxfam welcome comments and additions. We find that there is an urgent need for coordinated global investment to significantly improve the data on inequality and policies to reduce it, and much greater concerted action by governments across the world to reduce the gap between rich and poor.

Download file:

CRI Index – Summary.pdf

CRI Index – Report.pdf

CRI Index – Methodology.pdf

Making Tax Vanish – How the practices of consumer goods MNC RB show that the international tax system is broken

July 13, 2017

Big business is able to take advantage of loopholes in global tax laws and avoid tax on a massive scale.

This deprives governments around the world of the money they need to tackle poverty and inequality. It means there is less for them to invest in healthcare, education and jobs.

This report examines the failings of the global tax system that facilitate mass tax avoidance. It looks at one example of a multinational company (MNC) that Oxfam thinks is not paying its fair share and gives an overview of its practices in New Zealand.. It calls on the New Zealand government and business to implement the reforms that are needed to stop MNCs from avoiding paying their fair share of tax in the future.

Download file:

Oxfam NZ Report – Making Tax Vanish in New Zealand.pdf

Oxfam GB Report – Making Tax Vanish – July 2017.pdf

City of Mosul retaken from ISIS

July 10, 2017

Responding to an announcement by the Iraqi Security Forces on 9th July 2017 that they have retaken the city of Mosul from ISIS, Oxfam’s Country Director in Iraq, Andres Gonzalez said:

‘The retaking of Mosul will no doubt inspire hope among many Iraqis: hope that they can return home, rebuild their lives, and heal the divisions within their society. But these hopes will not be realised quickly or easily. Mosul residents continue to face severe risks from revenge attacks and explosives, and a lack of clean water, healthcare, and other basic services.

‘The people of Mosul have already suffered enough and now families may try to return home before it is safe to do so. Those men, women and children returning to Mosul must be supported with adequate information, guarantees of security, aid from humanitarian agencies, and access to social services.

‘As Mosul rebuilds, all its residents must enjoy the same rights and opportunities – whatever their gender, religion, or ethnic or tribal affiliation. In particular, Mosul residents must not face discrimination or punishment because of family links to ISIS fighters.

‘As the military offensives to retake the cities of Hawija and Tal Afar continue in the coming months, we expect to see even more civilians forced from their homes. The government of Iraq and the international community must not forget these families, who will also need life-saving aid and protection.’

The poor an afterthought at the Hamburg G20

July 10, 2017

Reacting to the outcome of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Steve Price-Thomas, Oxfam International’s director of advocacy and campaigns, said:

“When looking at the outcomes of the Hamburg summit, we have to ask: ‘what did the G20 do to help the world’s poorest people?’

“Sadly, the answer is ‘not much.’ The needs of the poorest were an afterthought. Despite the anger of many on the streets at the growing divide between the rich and poor, the G20 could only muster a tepid set of policies to tackle poverty and inequality.

“For example- for the G20 to support a ‘blacklist’ of tax havens that lists just one country is breathtaking, and shows just how low the bar is for them to claim success. Corporate tax dodging siphons billions from government coffers and leaves health and education budgets dry.

“Famine is the most brutal expression of poverty. While we’re pleased the United States has joined the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany in having made substantial commitments towards emergency relief for the ‘Four Famines,’ there’s still a massive humanitarian funding gap left to fill. Furthermore, the conflicts at the root of some of the crises haven’t even been discussed in earnest by this group.”

“Instead, leaders discussed the ‘Compact with Africa,’ an initiative which rests on the dangerously naive assumption that boosting private investment will automatically help the poorest in the continent. If left unchecked, the Compact might simply line the pockets of wealthy foreign investors.

“With the other 19 members firmly defending the Paris Agreement as ‘irreversible,’ President Trump’s stubborn insistence on propping up the fossil fuel industry leaves him isolated and stuck in the past.”