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Oxfam responds to Lebanon Crisis

Oxfam is responding to the escalating crisis in Lebanon, providing essential support to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been forced to flee as Israeli airstrikes bombard their homes and communities. The influx of internally displaced people, primarily from southern Lebanon, will quickly create disastrous conditions for local communities, beyond the ability of an overloaded international humanitarian system to properly meet. 

Oxfam and our partners are supporting internally displaced people in shelters in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon with clean water and sanitation, emergency cash, food, and hygiene and menstrual hygiene kits.  

Oxfam’s Lebanon country director Bachir Ayoub said the country can ill afford this on top of existing crises.  

“This conflict was predictable and avoidable. It is the result of the failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. For decades, the people of Lebanon have endured one crisis after another without getting the opportunity to fully recover. This latest emergency will only deepen the existing challenges facing the people of Lebanon and further destabilize an already volatile region.” 

The international community must condemn this escalation and take bold action to stop it now. Israel continues to act with impunity and it must be held to account for its actions in both Lebanon and Gaza. All parties must abide by international humanitarian law and held to account where potential violations may be involved.  

The spread of hostilities into Lebanon has inflicted immense damage on civilian infrastructure and led to a tragic loss of life. Lebanon and the region cannot afford to bear the weight of this crisis. This broader regional escalation underscores the urgent need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.  

Notes to editors:

  • Oxfam has worked in Lebanon since 1993, in partnership with local organisations, to support disadvantaged people with cash, clean water, and proper sanitation, as well as income-generating opportunities, advocating for women’s rights and reproductive health services, and renewable energy solutions.   
  • We also work with Syrian and Palestinian refugees, as well as Lebanese communities, including people with disabilities and migrant workers.
  • We work with 30 local partner organisations in North Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut who deeply understand the needs of the communities they are part of. 
  • Over the past decade, we have responded to the multiple crises Lebanon has faced, including the Syria crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut Blast, the Economic crisis, the 2022 cholera outbreak, and violent conflicts.   

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz — [email protected]

Bangladesh Floods: Affected Communities Look for Urgent Support

The ongoing flash floods in Bangladesh, triggered by relentless heavy rainfall, overflowing rivers, and upstream water releases from India, have devastated 12 districts, leaving millions stranded and in desperate need of aid. According to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, with nearly 5 million people affected and at least 18 lives lost, the situation is dire.

With roads cut off and communication networks down, Oxfam in Bangladesh is on the ground, delivering urgent life-saving support to the most vulnerable. The organization calls for urgent support as the country battles one of the worst flooding crises in recent memory.

Ashish Damle, Country Director of Oxfam in Bangladesh, expressed deep concern over the scale of the disaster: “This is one of the most severe flooding events Bangladesh has faced in recent years with millions stranded without access to essential resources. We urgently need the global community to stand with us in providing life-saving support to those most affected.”

“On the ground, our colleagues are supporting the people in need. We also call on individuals, organizations, and communities to stand by affected communities,'” he added.  

The floodwaters have ravaged homes, destroyed critical infrastructure, and submerged vast agricultural land across districts, including Cumilla, Noakhali, Feni, Chittagong, and Sylhet. Feni district has been particularly hard hit, with residents struggling to survive amid limited access to food, clean water, and medical care. 

The disaster has rendered over 2,000 mobile towers inoperative and severed key rail and road connections, severely hampering communication and the coordination of relief efforts. The floods have also displaced around 200,000 people and damaged over 350,000 hectares of crops, threatening food security in the coming months. With 1.1 million people still without electricity, the disruption to communication networks continues to pose significant challenges.

Nazrul Islam, a resident of Feni district, described the reality: “We have lost everything. Our home, which once sheltered us, is now completely submerged under water. We have no food to eat, no clean water to drink, and no place to turn to for help. We are struggling to survive each day, praying for any assistance that can help us make it through this nightmare.”

Along with partners, Oxfam is also responding to the situation, addressing immediate lifesaving needs. In the coming weeks, Oxfam plans to intensify its efforts, addressing critical needs in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), protection, shelter, and livelihood assistance. These include distributing dignity kits, baby food, cooked meals, and sanitation facilities.

Oxfam urgently seeks EUR 3 million to reach 170,000 people to respond to this escalating crisis effectively. Additionally, EUR 5 million ($5.4 million NZD)  is required for long-term rehabilitation efforts to support 300,000 people through the restoration of WASH facilities, shelter repairs, and rebuilding of livelihoods and community infrastructure. Oxfam’s priority intervention locations include Feni, Noakhali, Chittagong, the Hill Tracts, and Moulvibazar.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) warns of continued heavy rainfall over the next 72 hours, making the situation precarious. Oxfam is committed to staying with these communities throughout the crisis and recovery phase, but we cannot do it alone. We need your help now more than ever.

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz, [email protected]

Global humanitarian needs highest on record

In reaction to today’s UN 2023 Global Humanitarian Outlook report, revealing that 339 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid – the highest caseload in history – Oxfam’s Global Humanitarian Director, Marta Valdes Garcia said: 

“One in every 23 people around the world –the equivalent of nearly half of the entire population of Europe– is now in urgent need of humanitarian aid. This news must be an immediate wake-up call. 

“The humanitarian needs are outstripping the aid system’s ability to respond. We have to rethink not only how we try to meet those needs, but what the failures are of global systems that are leading to such rapidly growing inequality in the first place. 

“Humanitarian aid is flatlining but, again, we’re seeing the UN appealing for even more resources, from the same pool of donors, to help even more desperate people trying to cope in crisis. Again, those most in need will receive only a pittance of what they are asking for. 

“The global humanitarian system is already overwhelmed. We know that people are being made homeless, hungry and sick by climate change, conflict, poverty and inequality, and economic failures – but these are not isolated issues, they’re the same endemic crises.  

“We must not wait any longer. We need a radical overhaul of how our global systems work, putting the dignity and rights of people in crisis first.  

“We must both immediately respond to this unprecedented humanitarian need and find ways to change a runaway global financial system where the few are benefitting at the cost of the many. How can we have hundreds of new food and energy billionaires yet we cannot fund basic humanitarian needs to stop millions of people from starving?   

“Donors must immediately meet the UN global humanitarian appeal to help save lives now. Funding to prevent disasters should have no strings attached; and to nip escalating crises in the bud, decisions and actions must be led by local communities themselves. 

 “National governments must also tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality that worsens the blow of disasters on those already suffering. One key way this can be done is by injecting resources into global public goods, from climate adaptation to social protection.  

“There is already so much insight into what a new global system could be – at heart, by tackling global inequality, climate change and conflict, and focusing on local leadership. What is dismally lacking is the political courage.” 

 

Notes to editors

Since 2016 Oxfam, together with 60+ INGOs, UN Agencies, and donor governments, has committed to putting communities and local leaders at the heart of humanitarian responses and to making the humanitarian system more efficient and effective. Together with 50+ NGOs we have signed this joint statement in reaction to this GHO report.

Learn more: Hunger in a Heating World

Yemen: Rise in airstrikes and landmines add to misery for civilians in Marib after year of increased conflict

One year after the battle for Yemen’s resource rich Marib governorate escalated, the humanitarian situation has worsened as shifting frontlines, airstrikes and landmines displace nearly 100,000 people, many of whom have already fled multiple times.

Last month 43 airstrikes hit civilian targets, representing more than a fifth of all airstrikes in the Marib area since fighting increased in February last year. Most of these were on houses and farms, destroying homes and businesses that will take many years to rebuild.

Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director Muhsin Siddiquey said:

“This escalation in conflict, displacement and death that we are seeing in Marib is a snapshot of the suffering faced by communities across Yemen. Ordinary people who have sought refuge in a place once described as an oasis of calm have become collateral damage in a protracted conflict. The only way out of this is for the warring parties to meet and negotiate a permanent peace settlement.” 

Civilians also face danger from missiles and shells fired from the ground as well as landmines and improvised explosive devices. Eight civilians were killed by landmines in Marib governorate in January 2022 compared with five for the whole of 2021, reflecting a worrying rise in the use of these outlawed weapons. Landmines are often placed along roads and tracks across farmland leading to Marib city that are used by civilians bringing in goods to sell and migrants travelling through Yemen.

Siddiquey said:

“Landmines are barbaric. They don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants and their threat, together with unexploded bombs and shells, hangs over communities for decades until they are de-activated. One key road leading to Marib is now a no-go area.  Children have been killed while tending farm animals and even gathering firewood can be deadly. I am particularly worried by reports that records are not kept of where landmines are laid.”

According to UN figures, over one million displaced people live in Marib governorate, either with locals or in one of between 120 and 150 formal and informal sites. However local authorities put the figure at close to two million. Of these, many have now been displaced five or six times.  

Salem* and his family live in Alswidan camp on the outskirts of Marib. He said:

 “People in the camp are always afraid of military actions that could hit them anytime. We all live in anxiety. I can’t even leave the camp for a short time. I live with fear about my family and my family sleep and wake up frightened.”

The UN estimates that 85 per cent of displaced families are unable to pay rent on a regular basis as opportunities to earn money are scarce. Many are anxious about being evicted since some nine in 10 of the settlements are built on private land without occupancy agreements. Rental prices in Marib city have soared after the recent wave of displacements.

The spiralling currency depreciation coupled with an ongoing fuel crisis has seen prices of food, fuel and medicines more than double. Many people are forced to borrow money and are trapped in a cycle of debt, unable to afford their basic needs.

Yemen is now in its fourth wave of Covid and many displaced people lack access to basic facilities such as latrines and clean water.  Nearly eight years on from the start of the conflict only about half of healthcare facilities are still operating leaving two out of three Yemenis without access to health services.

Oxfam is working in Marib to improve water supplies, provide latrines and to provide cash transfers so families can buy basic essentials.  During the last year Oxfam helped 95,928 people in Marib including providing access to drinking water for 60,000 and cash transfers to 14,875.

The United Nations has issued a statement reminding warring parties that being at war does not absolve them of their obligations under international humanitarian law, which strictly prohibits disproportionate attacks and requires that all feasible precautions be taken to avoid civilian harm.

Since the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen – the UN appointed body responsible for monitoring human rights abuses in Yemen – was disbanded in October last year there is no international monitoring of human rights violations. All parties in Yemen’s protracted conflict have been responsible for civilian casualties.  

A boy plays with a goat in Yemen
A father sits with his young son against a green background
Salem and his family live in the Alswidan camp on the outskirts of Maribl, Yemen. Photos: Kaff Media, Oxfam

Notes

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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