New Zealand

Queer communities at huge risk in Lebanon, Oxfam research warns

June 24, 2021

Lebanon’s queer communities have few safe spaces left and have been among the hardest hit by the combined impacts of the 2020 Beirut blast, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing economic crisis, new Oxfam research warned today. The combination of crises has destroyed entire neighbourhoods where queer people had found refuge over the last decade.

The report, “Queer Community in Crisis: Trauma, Inequality & Vulnerability” was produced with the financial support of the European Union, and it is one of the first studies conducted in Lebanon to understand the impact of the multi-layered crises facing the LGBTQI+ community and their unique needs. Oxfam interviewed 101 individuals, civil society organisations and informal aid groups, an urban planner, and business owners in the areas affected by the blast.

The research found 70% of those surveyed lost jobs in the past year, compared to an unemployment rate of 40% among the total workforce. Almost half said they had relied on family support and humanitarian aid to make ends meet.

The LGBTQ community in Lebanon is facing a housing crisis: 41% of LGBTQ individuals cannot pay their rent, and 58% reported that their homes were damaged in the blast: 35% were forced to relocate or change their living arrangements, 39% do not have a safe living space, and a further 11% had been forced back with their families where many said they faced abusive, unsafe or unaccepting environments. Others were forced to move to overcrowded houses where they faced physical and mental health problems from Coronavirus.

Overall, nearly 73% of survey respondents said that their mental health has worsened to a large extent due to the three-layered crisis.

Nizar Aouad, Oxfam in Lebanon’s Gender Advisor, said the Beirut blast and the subsequent reconstruction efforts could have devastating structural and cultural repercussions for the queer community. “The blast has been the final straw for LGBTQ people in Beirut. It destroyed whatever safe spaces were left in the city. The city’s reconstruction efforts will likely lead to gentrification, making the areas unaffordable to its current residents,” said Aouad.

“Swathes of neighborhoods are set to become less accessible to queer individuals because of high rent and the destruction of already limited public spaces and venues that catered for them. We fear the loss of cultural diversity in Beirut”, added Aouad.

The discrimination and lack of social acceptance that queer people, especially transgender people, face in Lebanon correlate with fewer opportunities for them to make a living. Trans people who face systemic and longstanding barriers to formal education and employment are often forced to work in low-income jobs in the informal sector. Many of them are forced into sex work to make ends meet. During the pandemic, many informal businesses struggled to survive and demand for sex work services sharply decreased, making an already dire situation even worse.

One interviewee noted: “We don’t have safe spaces to exist. We are stifled from all angles. We can’t go out, we can’t work, and we can’t receive proper support”.

Queer refugees, who have been struggling for years under legal restrictions that bar them from the formal job market and limit their mobility, also found in this crisis another burden.

The research shows a huge and pressing need to rebuild queer friendly spaces and create new ones in Beirut. However the government of Lebanon has shown little interest doing so.

Oxfam calls on the government to prioritise the reconstruction of safe spaces for the queer community and offer basic assistance, including cash, shelter, and access to services, to those who are not included in current aid projects.

Oxfam urges Lebanese authorities to decriminalise homosexuality and ensure all members of the community have equal rights.

“Queer people in Lebanon are systematically discriminated against and have been denied equal access to general healthcare and mental healthcare services for far too long. There must be a focus on the impact of the current crises on their mental and physical wellbeing, so that their opportunities to recover are equal to their cis-hetero counterparts,” said Aouad.

ENDS

Notes to editor:

75% of survey respondents said that their mental health was negatively impacted to a large extent due to the three-layered crisis.
62% respondents reported increased exposure to violence in their current houses.
48% reported inability to access support systems.
39% reported not being able to access safe spaces.
46% reported great difficulties accessing general healthcare services.
On August 4, 2020, Lebanon was ravaged by a disastrous blast in Beirut’s port, resulting in over 200 deaths and 6500 injuries, and causing massive destruction over a 10 kilometers radius from the explosion site. The areas most severely affected by the Beirut Blast, particularly the neighborhoods of Mar Mikhael, Gemmayze, and Achrafieh, were known for their reputation as the most queer-friendly neighborhoods in Beirut.
Lebanon is facing its most precarious economic crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990. Since 2019, the Lebanese Lira has devalued by more than 85 percent and unemployment has reached a record high, leading to economic recession, high inflation, leading to , devastating social conditions.

This report was produced through the financial support of the European Union as part of a project implemented by Oxfam and entitled “Challenging Stereotypes, Providing Services, Convening, and Advocating: A multi-layer approach to promote LGBTQ rights in Lebanon”. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Oxfam and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Oxfam has been working in Lebanon since 1993. We provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people affected by conflict, and we promote economic development, promotion of good governance at a local and national level, and women’s rights through our work with our partners. Oxfam also works with local partners to contribute to the protection and empowerment of marginalized women and men. Oxfam in Lebanon works on active citizenship and good governance, economic justice and humanitarian programmes. To respond to the impact of the blast Oxfam is working with 11 partners to deliver emergency support including distribution of food parcels and the provision of emergency and temporary cash assistance, household rehabilitation, legal assistance and consultation, psycho-social support and medication. The services are provided to families and individuals in the affected areas including women, girls, LGBTQ+ community members, people with disabilities and migrant workers.

Help farming curb climate breakdown

Bolder climate action. More sustainable farms. Better quality of life across the Pacific.

What's the problem?

The government’s current efforts will not protect us or communities in the Pacific from runaway climate destruction, or ensure that everyone has access to good, local food in the future. It doesn’t have to be this way.

The unfortunate reality is that agriculture is responsible for 50% of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions¹. The only way for New Zealand to play our part in keeping within the crucial temperature limit of 1.5°C is if the government does more to reduce emissions in this area and support more farmers to transition to sustainable food production.

Current plans to put a price on the climate pollution from agribusiness would take 98 years to reach the same emissions price that we all pay at the petrol pump². These plans would only reduce agricultural emissions by less than 1% by 2030³.

Communities across the Pacific are bearing the brunt of this inaction with more frequent superstorms and heightened food insecurity.

What's the solution?

The government has set its climate targets – now the Ministers of Climate Change and Agriculture have until December to make a decision on how the farming sector will contribute to meeting them. We’re calling on them to ensure agribusiness pulls its weight by creating a strong emissions price that will lead to meaningful reductions in climate pollution while supporting the industry with the necessary services and infrastructure to transition.

This is an opportunity to adjust the industry with our largest climate footprint into one that is sustainable, healthy, and positioned for success in the future. Whether it’s growing kai for the marae, produce for a local farmers’ market or speciality goods for export, we can have thriving farms that are in balance with the land, and play their part in curbing climate breakdown so that farmers on the frontlines of climate change can survive and thrive too.

Call on the government to step up New Zealand’s climate target by incentivising more sustainable farms! Sign the petition above.

Footnotes:

Ministry for the Environment, NZ’s interactive emissions tracker:
https://emissionstracker.mfe.govt.nz/#NrAMBoEYF12TwCIByBTALo2wBM4eiQCc2AHEltEA
Stuff.co.nz “Farmers offering to pay $137 million for their greenhouse pollution. Is that fair? (Feb 01, 2022) < https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/127643245/farmers-offering-to-pay-137m-for-their-greenhouse-pollution-is-that-fair>
Stuff.co.nz “Climate change: Official plan to price and cut agricultural emissions would lead to less than 1% reduction” (November 23, 2021) < https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300461560/climate-change-official-plan-to-price-and-cut-agricultural-emissions-would-lead-to-less-than-1-per-cent-reduction>

NB: this petition was launched before the government had set its new 2030 target in November 2021– we will deliver this petition to Ministers with a focus on the second and third policy asks, with decisions on these to be made by December 2022.

Oxfam Aotearoa reacts to the Climate Change Commission’s report

June 9, 2021

Oxfam Aotearoa reacts to the historic Climate Change Commission report released today at parliament that outlines recommendations for Aotearoa, New Zealand’s climate action over the next 15 years.  

Oxfam Aotearoa’s Campaign Lead Alex Johnston says that report marks a step up in the country’s response to climate change, but that the final does not reflect the urgency around the current climate crisis we’re in. Johnston says that although we can’t deny this is a historic moment, we need to do more. 

“The Climate Change Commission’s report draws a line in the sand for the bare minimum of what the government should be doing to reduce New Zealand’s climate pollution. However, if adopted using the timeframes currently proposed, they won’t make much of a difference.

“Aotearoa needs to do more to achieve its fair share of keeping to 1.5 degrees, so that our friends, colleagues and loved ones in the Pacific and beyond do not have to endure rising poverty, lack of food, moving homes, loss of culture. Greater action is needed in prior to 2030 to ensure a safe climate future for all.”

The recently released report will be used to inform New Zealand’s upgraded target at COP26, the global climate talks in Glasgow, later this year.

Johnston says that Aotearoa is getting left further behind as other countries race to step up their commitments under the Paris Agreement:  

“The US has a target of 50% reductions by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. The UK has a target of 68% reductions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. And now compare this to New Zealand’s target of 30% reduction by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels), and you can see how we have a problem.” 

New Zealand’s agricultural sector is responsible for around half of the country’s total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, but only has a 10% reduction target by 2030 under the Zero Carbon Act.  Earlier this year Oxfam Aotearoa urged the Commission to greatly enhance their emissions budgets with agriculture in mind.

“The government continues to let agricultural emissions off the hook, and this is reflected in the Commission’s report – it’s the area where planned reductions are most clearly not aligned with 1.5-degree pathways, and this is holding back how ambitious we can be in our international 2030 target,” said Johnston.

“What we need is to invest in supporting farmers to diversify land uses. Cutting climate pollution from agriculture should include specific and direct regulations on the sources of pollution and rewarding those already farming sustainably, pricing agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme, and using the revenue to fund the transition to sustainable food productions.   

“The reality is this: unfortunately, in order for Aotearoa to uphold its end of the agreement to keep warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius, our government either need to do much more to reduce methane pollution at home, or we will need to spend billions of dollars of offshore carbon credits. Essentially passing on an unfair burden of reducing emissions to developing nations like our Pacific neighbours to do our work for us. 

“We cannot embed our sky-high methane emissions caused by industrial agribusiness at the expense of small-scale farmers around the world growing food for their communities. These are people that have contributed the least to the problem, and are facing disruption to their food security due to climate change. That is not climate justice.”   

For interview opportunities and more info:

David Bull, Oxfam Aotearoa
david.bull@oxfam.org.nz

Notes to editors 

The richest 10% accounted for over half (52%) of the emissions added to the atmosphere between 1990 and 2015. The richest 1% were responsible for 15% of emissions during this time – more than all the citizens of the EU and more than twice that of the poorest half of humanity (7%).

Download Oxfam’s report, ‘Confronting Carbon Inequality,’ for more information. 

The combined climate plans submitted by countries account to a dismal 1% emissions reduction, which is way off track from the targeted 45% reduction needed to limit global warming below 1.5 degrees, and to avoid disastrous impacts on vulnerable communities. 

The government is also reviewing New Zealand’s Paris Agreement target for emissions reductions by 2030, our ‘Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)’, which the Commission found to currently be inconsistent with global efforts to stay within 1.5C of global heating. New Zealand is one of the countries yet to increase its NDC target ahead of COP26, the global climate talks in Glasgow in November. 

Oxfam New Zealand’s 2020 report ‘A Fair 2030 Target for Aotearoa’ found that New Zealand’s fair share of effort for keeping to 1.5 degrees would be no less than an 80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030. 

Help farming curb climate breakdown

Bolder climate action. More sustainable farms. Better quality of life across the Pacific.

What's the problem?

The unfortunate reality is that agriculture is responsible for 48% of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions. The only way for New Zealand to play our part in keeping within the crucial temperature limit of 1.5°C is if the government does more to reduce emissions in this area and support more farmers to transition to sustainable food production.

Right now, the government does not reward those farmers already making changes, giving unsustainable farming practices a free pass to pollute. This has propped up an intensive model, where often the land is overloaded with cows and chemicals, polluting waterways and causing climate pollution to skyrocket.

Communities across the Pacific are bearing the brunt of this inaction with more frequent superstorms and heightened food insecurity.

What's the solution?

Key decisions in coming months can change things. We must make the government’s new climate plan set a bold 2030 climate target, create a strong incentive for sustainable food production, and fund the infrastructure that will help farmers transition.

This is an opportunity to adjust the industry with our largest climate footprint into one that is sustainable, healthy, and positioned for success in the future. Whether it’s growing kai for the marae, produce for a local farmers’ market or specialty goods for export, we can have thriving farms that are in balance with the land, and play their part in curbing climate breakdown so that farmers on the frontlines of climate change can survive and thrive too.

Call on the government to step up New Zealand’s climate target by incentivising more sustainable farms! Sign the petition above.

Millions facing double disaster as second Covid wave overwhelms rural India

June 4, 2021

New Delhi: The second wave has left public healthcare in shambles. People have lost their lives due to lack of proper medical facilities and infrastructure. The situation is getting a little under control in the cities, but it is still very grim in rural India where there are issues related to access to medical facilities, hospitals, doctors, technically trained staff or testing facilities.

Around 65% of the total population of approximately 1.3 billion live in rural India, which hardly has rural health infrastructure. As per the Rural Health Statistics 2019, there is a shortfall of 43,736 Sub Centres (23 percent), 8764 Primary Health Centres/PHC (28 percent) and 2865 Community Health Centres/CHC (37 percent) across the country.

Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said: “There was a time when we woke up every day to news of death of a friend, family, acquaintance. Villages were worse off – with no access to health care, no testing; in some cases, 20-25 people from a village died within a few days. No one in India has remained untouched by this pandemic. And most of these lives could have been saved if there was proper, adequate, and affordable healthcare for all.”

People outside the major cities do not have the same access to social media to reach out for help or raise awareness of what is happening. Lack of testing, healthcare facilities and postmortems mean large number of cases in rural communities are not being recorded.

Apart from a healthcare calamity, India was already reeling under economic stress. The sporadic lockdowns and containment zones mean that once again it is the informal sector workers who are going to be worst hit. Latest report from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) states that over 1 crore Indians lot their jobs in the second Covid wave and around 97% household incomes have fallen since the start of the pandemic last year.

Millions who slipped into poverty last year due to job losses are now facing another looming crisis: hunger. India already has the largest population facing food shortages in the world, with an estimated 189 million people in India already undernourished before the pandemic began

While healthcare is the primary focus at this point in time, Oxfam India is also reaching out to some of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities with food. In the long run we will work towards providing livelihood support to informal sector workers and their families.

Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said: “We are reaching out to public healthcare institutions, district administrations and COVID Care Centres with medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, patient monitoring systems, oximeters, oxygen nasal masks, and thermometers along with PPE kits and safety kits for frontline health workers. We will also reach the most marginalised and vulnerable communities with food, ration, and safety kits.”

Through Mission Sanjeevani, our COVID-19 response in the second wave, we have provided 96 Oxygen Concentrators, 155 Oxygen Cylinders (40 Lts), over 1200 Oxygen Nasal Masks, 12 BiPAP machines, over 5000 diagnostic tools/equipment of various types, 1630 PPE kits, 90 ICU beds, community safety kits and one month’s dry ration supply to 15,500 people so far.

In addition to this, Oxfam India plans to strengthen the rural health ecosystem, in some of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities, by providing the necessary tools, training and inexpensive equipment needed by frontline health workers like Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) for early identification of cases and timely referral to health centres, and hiring doctors, staff nurses and paramedics, wherever possible.

In the first month of our response to the second wave, we have provided support in Maharashtra, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. While continuing to work in these states among the most marginalised and vulnerable communities, Oxfam India will also look at expanding to Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Gujarat.

Notes to the Editors:

In the second wave, Oxfam India is working with the government and local administrations to deploy 7 Oxygen generation plants, 25 ventilators, 500 Oxygen concentrators, 3000 Oxygen cylinders (40-lts capacity), 11800 Oxygen nasal masks, 300 BiPAP machines, 1200 ICU beds, around 16000 diagnostic equipment of different types, and 19000 PPE kits. We are also aiming to provide one-month dry ration supply and community safety kits to 225,000 people.
Oxfam India also plans to train 35000 ASHA workers and provide them with medical kits for a larger community outreach to ensure Covid appropriate behaviour and also tackle the issue of vaccine hesitancy.
Since March 2020, Oxfam India has been working in 16 states, reaching the most marginalised and vulnerable with medical supplies, food kits, cooked meals, safety and PPE kits, cash, and livelihood trainings.

For more information, please contact:
David Bull
Oxfam Aotearoa
david.bull@oxfam.org.nz

About Oxfam India

Oxfam India is a movement of people working to create a just and an equal India. We work to ensure that Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims, and women and girls have safe-violence free lives with freedom to speak their mind, equal opportunities to realise their rights, and a discrimination free future.

During the last five years, Oxfam India has responded to more than 35 humanitarian disasters across the country and directly provided relief to nearly 1.5 million people. Oxfam India’s humanitarian response is guided by the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalised communities in disaster affected areas.

More than a million COVID deaths in 4 months since G7 leaders failed to break vaccine monopolies

June 3, 2021

At the current vaccination rates, low income countries would be waiting 57 years for everyone to be fully vaccinated.

More than a million people have died from COVID since The Group of Seven (G7) leaders met back in February 2021. The leaders had made vague pledges to increase the global vaccine supply, but failed to collectively back the waiver of intellectual property rules and investment in manufacturing vaccines in developing countries.

As G7 Health Ministers meet today for talks ahead of the Leaders’ Summit next week, The People’s Vaccine Alliance is calling on the G7 to stop making empty promises and protecting the interests of pharmaceutical companies, and instead take urgent action to close the massive vaccine void between their nations and poorer countries.

New calculations from the Alliance, which includes Health Justice Initiative, Oxfam, and UNAIDS, found that last month people living in G7 countries were 77 times more likely to be offered a vaccine than those living in the world’s poorest countries. Between them, G7 nations were vaccinating at a rate of 4.6 million people a day in May, meaning, if this rate continues, everyone living in G7 nations should be fully vaccinated by 8 January 2022. At their current rate – vaccinating 63,000 people a day – it would take low income countries 57 years to reach the same level of protection.

Of the 1.77 billion doses of COVID vaccines given globally, just 0.3 per cent of COVID jabs have been given in low-income countries – despite the fact G7 and low-income countries have a similar population size.

Executive Director of Oxfam Aotearoa Rachael Le Mesurier said that although the world is holding its breath waiting for our G7 leaders to step up, we must not forget that the New Zealand government has a moral duty to build on the actions taken to date:

“New Zealand has been a leader during this terrible pandemic; across the globe, world leaders and whole populations are looking to us to see what we will do next. This is the perfect opportunity for our Prime Minister to use her position to help those in need.

“This is about real concrete support for the People’s Vaccine; this is about lifting the brakes and speeding up the production of vaccines faster so we can reach more people in need sooner. This is also about the massive amount of vaccines our own government has stockpiled – enough to vaccinate our population almost six times over. If we hold these vaccines back from those who urgently need them – we are just helping the virus mutate until there is a variant our vaccines can’t stop. New Zealand will not be safe until we are all safe.”

While some G7 members claim they have done their bit by pledging doses or funding to COVAX, the initiative, which was set up to help developing countries access COVID vaccines, is massively failing. COVAX has delivered less than a third of the doses it promised to by the end of May and the Alliance warned that at the current rate, it is likely to reach only 10 per cent of people at best in developing countries by the end of the year.

Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, said: “It is obscene that the UK, Germany and other rich countries, which are able to vaccinate their own people, are preventing poor countries from making the doses they need to save lives.

“The sad fact is developing countries cannot depend on COVAX or the good will of the pharma industry to save the lives of their people. G7 leaders must take this moment to stand on the right side of history by putting their full support behind the vaccine patent waiver supported by more than 100 countries. The G7 may be getting the vaccines they need but too much of the world is not and people are paying for patent protection with their lives.”

Of the G7 nations, only the US are backing the proposal at the WTO to waive intellectual property rights. The UK and Germany are opposing, while Canada, France, Japan and Italy are sat on the fence. This is despite the fact their public are strongly in favour of the idea, with polling showing that an average of 70 per cent of people across G7 nations believing that governments should ensure pharmaceutical companies share their formulas and technology, so that qualified manufacturers around the world can help increase the supply.

Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Senior Health Policy Advisor to The People Vaccine Alliance, said: “The G7 must act now to force companies to share the vaccine technology and know-how with qualified manufacturers in developing countries in order to maximise supply.

“Last week the WHO has relaunched its COVID-19 Technology Access Pool to facilitate sharing vaccines technology, knowhow and intellectual property. The G7 must show a strong political support for the pool if they are serious about ending the pandemic. They must also announce funding to support technology transfer and manufacturing in developing countries. Every day they delay is a day that lives could be saved.”

-Ends-

For interview opportunities please contact:

David Bull – Oxfam Aotearoa
+64 274 179 724

Notes to Editors:

The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental organisation consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The heads of government of the member states, as well as the representatives of the European Union, meet at the annual G7 Summit. New Zealand is not a part of this group.

Since G7 leaders last met for a virtual summit on 19 February, 1,094,213 people have died from COVID, the equivalent of 8 people per minute, according to data from Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths

Vaccine supply and delivery data from Airfinity, Our World in Data, UNICEF and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Projections of how long vaccinations could take are based on the average rate of vaccinations from 1 – 25 May 2021.Calculations were made on 26 May 2021.

Between them, G7 nations are vaccinating at a rate of 4,630,533 people per day. At that rate it would take 227 days to fully vaccinate their entire population, until 8 January 2022, assuming everyone receives two doses. Between them, Low income countries are vaccinating at a rate of 62,772 people per day. At that rate it will take them 57 years to vaccinate their entire population, until 7 October 2078, assuming everyone receives two doses.

According to new calculations made by the People’s Vaccine Alliance using Our World In Data from 25 May, 1,774,959,169 vaccines have been administered globally. People living in G7 countries received 497,150,151 of these vaccines (28%) their combined population is 774,917,290. People living in low Income countries received 5,481,470 vaccines (0.31%), their combined population is 660,310,395.

For the month of May 497.15m doses were given in G7 countries, divided between 774m people = 0.6423 doses per person, 5.48mdoses were given in low income countries divided between 660m people = 0.0083 doses per person, 0.6423 divided by 0.0083 = 77.4 – therefore, last month people in G7 countries were 77x more likely to get a vaccine than those in poor countries.

The statistic that COVAX will only reach 10% of people in developing countries this year does not include India.

More information on G7 public opinion polling by the People’s Vaccine Alliance available here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/05/an-average-of-7-in-10-across-g7-countries-think-their-governments-should-force-big-pharma-to-share-vaccine-know-how/