Latest updates from Oxfam America

Food for all

akramer — 2013-06-18T19:57:49Z

Hunger isn't about too many people and too little food. It's about power, and its roots lie in inequalities in access to resources and opportunities.

Presidents Obama and Putin must deliver on Syria at the G8

mhart — 2013-06-14T18:53:46Z

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin must throw all their political weight into making the Geneva peace conference on Syria a success when they meet at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland. Failure to find a peaceful solution and sending more arms to either side of the conflict will only increase the bloodshed and suffering, says international humanitarian organization Oxfam.

The meeting of the two leaders comes at a critical time. At least 93,000 Syrians have already lost their lives in the conflict. Some eight million Syrians are in need of aid and over 1.6 million have fled to neighbouring countries, triggering the largest appeal for humanitarian assistance in UN history.

The United States and Russia have expressed their support for a political process to put an end to the conflict but the Geneva peace conference announced by both countries in early May is yet to be scheduled.

“The leaders of the G8 countries are at a fork in the road. Instead of fanning the flames of the conflict by sending more weapons into Syria, the leaders should prioritize the pursuit of a political solution. The transfer of all arms and ammunition to Syria - whether to opposition forces or the government - must be immediately stopped,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America.

“The Syria crisis is the biggest humanitarian emergency in the world. The fighting has taken a devastating toll on Syrian people. The promised Geneva peace conference offers an important glimmer of hope on the diplomatic horizon to end the suffering. We cannot let it slip away. Millions of Syrians have been failed for too long by a divided international community.”

The international aid community is struggling to keep up with the humanitarian consequences of the conflict with the current UN appeals just 28 percent funded. Oxfam is calling on Presidents Obama and Putin to also help improve humanitarian access by using their influence on the Syrian Government and opposition groups to ensure aid reaches those most in need.

“Aid organizations are already struggling to cope with the huge demand but there are millions more people out of reach. Further intervention from Presidents Obama and Putin will help ensure that all those affected by the crisis can get the aid they so desperately need,” said Offenheiser.

While Presidents Obama and Putin have pledged to ensure full participation at the peace conference from all sides of the conflict, Oxfam is calling for representatives of the refugee community, women’s groups, and other non-military, independent civil society voices to be also included.

Oxfam is working in Syria through local organizations and working in Lebanon and Jordan helping Syrian refugees. It is aiming to help 650,000 people in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in the next 12 months.

OXFAMCloseup, Spring 2013

cmccabe — 2013-06-17T15:14:29Z

Oxfam America achieved a major victory when three of the world's largest food companies made public commitments to begin to tackle the poverty and inequality facing women cocoa farmers. In the pages ahead, you'll read about the campaign that made that possible--and Oxfam's intention to ensure that the companies follow through with their promises.

Oxfam welcomes European Parliament vote approving landmark oil and mining financial disclosure law

ebhatti — 2013-06-12T13:35:02Z

International relief and development organization Oxfam America applauded the European Parliament for voting today to give its final approval to a new mandatory payment disclosure requirement for the oil, gas and mining industries that will complement a law already in force in the US.

Today’s European Parliament vote follows a political agreement reached between the European Parliament, EU Member States and the European Commission in April after months of negotiations to include the payment disclosure provisions in revised Transparency and Accounting Directives.

“The transparency net has been cast even wider today, covering the vast majority of internationally operating oil companies and world’s largest mining companies,” said Ian Gary, senior policy manager of Oxfam America’s oil, gas and mining program. “This is a huge victory for citizens living in resource rich countries as well as investors who have a right know this information. We applaud Europe’s leaders and Members of the European Parliament for not caving under oil industry lobbying efforts to water down the rules.”

Similar to the bipartisan “Cardin-Lugar” provision or Section 1504 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, the European directives require both public and large privately-held companies to disclose their payments. In addition, the requirements extend to the logging industry. As in the US, companies will be required to disclose payments, such as taxes and royalties, above 100,000 Euros for individual projects ($100,000 in the US) in every country of operation. The vote further undermines oil company arguments in US courts against the US disclosure provision.

The vote comes on the eve of the G8 Summit June 17-18 hosted by the United Kingdom, where transparency in the “extractive industries” is a major plank of the host government’s agenda. The UK and French governments have been strong backers of the EU oil and mining disclosure provisions and have pledged to quickly enact the requirement in their national contexts. Member states have two years to incorporate the directives into their national legal frameworks.

“While the world is moving toward greater transparency, the oil industry seems determined to keep their heads in the sand, and fight against it as long as possible,” continued Gary.

In the US ,the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry lobby group, filed a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last October in an attempt to overturn final rules promulgated by the regulatory agency last August. Oxfam has intervened in the lawsuit on the side of the SEC. The US Court of Appeals dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction in April and the case is now being heard in the District Court for the District of Columbia. Mining companies and their industry associations have not joined the oil industry lawsuit in the US and Norwegian oil giant and API member Statoil has explicitly withheld support for the suit.

Companies have alleged that they may be forced to violate local laws or abandon assets in countries that allegedly prohibit disclosure of these payments. As in the US, EU regulators and political leaders were not convinced of the existence of any host country prohibitions against disclosing this payment information. The EU directive and final SEC rule do not allow for any categorical exemptions to the payment disclosure requirements.

“Mandatory disclosures of oil, gas and mining payments to governments are now a global fact and industry giants such as Exxon, Chevron, BP and Shell need to drop their misguided support for this litigation,” said Gary. “Now that the European Parliament has given final approval to payment disclosure rules, oil industry leaders should drop their support for this meritless attempt to stem the transparency tide.”

/ENDS

Notes:

With the US and EU laws in place, a global standard for mandatory oil, gas and mining payment disclosure has emerged. These laws cover 65 per cent of the value of the global extractives market, including most major internationally operating oil, gas and mining companies, as well as significant Chinese, Russian, Brazilian and other state-owned companies. These laws also complement the industry-backed Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a voluntary initiative whose standards were revised this May to require project reporting that is consistent with the US and EU reporting regimes. Canada, Australia and other jurisdictions are considering adopting similar mandatory transparency requirements for their capital markets.

"Syria, our hearts love you"

jabdulla — 2013-06-10T20:56:31Z

Reema is a 12 year-old Syrian refugee who has fled to Lebanon with her family. This is a poem she wrote about her home country. She is happy for Oxfam to share her poems and was really pleased that so many people, around the world, knew her through Oxfam. Please share and spread the word about the children - who make up half of all Syrian refugees - that are in need of humanitarian aid during this terrible conflict.

Poem: Reema, Age 12
Translation: Dr. Nahla Baydoun
Narration: Natasha Milet-Carty

Reema's Poem:

Poem 1
Syria
Our hearts love you
How your children love you
How the memory would forget you
We will be back soon, to remove the tears on your cheeks
We will return one day to our mothers to kiss the soil and the flowers
Lovely Syria, we will be back soon.

Learn more about how Oxfam is helping Syrian refugees and donate now to support these efforts.

Oil, gas and mining law strongly defended by Oxfam in court

lrusu — 2013-06-07T17:19:46Z

WASHINGTON, DC – Lawyers for international relief and development organization Oxfam America strongly defended a landmark oil, gas and mining transparency law today in arguments before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia today. In an effort to overturn the law, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and US Chamber of Commerce have sued the US government after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to approve final regulations last August.

Known as Section 1504 or the “Cardin-Lugar” provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the law requires oil, gas and mining companies to disclose payments to governments in countries where they do business. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the industry lawsuit in April on jurisdictional grounds – an argument only Oxfam America, an intervenor in the case, made to the court. Now the case is moving forward in the US District Court.

“Transparency supporters, investors and citizens in resource-rich countries celebrated a victory when the court dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds,” said Ian Gary, senior policy manager of Oxfam America’s oil, gas and mining program. “The facts are on our side and we intend to win again after the lower court hears the hollowness of industry arguments.”

In briefs to the court, Oxfam argued that API’s claims are without merit and that the SEC, the defendant, approved a final rule that follows the law and the Congressional intent. Regarding oil industry claims that the statute violates the Frist Amendment, Oxfam argued that API has failed “to identify any injury to their First Amendment rights” and that oil companies have “no constitutional right to keep payments to foreign governments secret.”

“This provision requires purely factual disclosure – discrete payment information that is no different from other business information the SEC requires companies to disclose,” said Jonathan Kaufman, staff attorney at EarthRights International and co-counsel representing Oxfam America as intervenor in the lawsuit. “If the court agrees with the plaintiffs’ First Amendment challenge, it could undermine the countless reporting statutes and regulations that require disclosure of information on corporate activities to investors and the public.”

“Mandatory disclosures of oil, gas and mining payments to governments are now a global fact and industry giants such as Exxon, Chevron, BP and Shell need to drop their misguided support for this litigation,” said Gary. “Now that the European Union has agreed on similar payment disclosure rules, the industry should give up its fight and withdraw their support for the lawsuit.”

No mining company has joined the lawsuit and the National Mining Association has refused to participate in the litigation. Large mining companies such as Newmont and Rio Tinto have stated that the disclosures required by Dodd Frank are complementary to voluntary initiatives. Statoil, the Norwegian oil giant operating in places such as Angola, is a prominent API member and has explicitly withheld support for the litigation in the United States.

The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on June 12 to approve the political agreement reached at the European Union level in April to match the Dodd Frank requirements. Transparency in the extractive industries is a major plank of the UK government’s G8 summit scheduled for June 17-18. The first Dodd-Frank disclosures will be released in June 2014.

Oxfam reaction to launch of UN humanitarian appeal for Syria, the UN’s largest ever appeal

mhart — 2013-06-07T12:20:24Z

International humanitarian organization Oxfam urged governments to generously fund the UN’s appeal for the Syrian crisis both for work within Syria and for work in neighboring countries sheltering refugees.

“We are witnessing the daily human wreckage of a country tearing itself apart. Our common humanity implores us to respond to the suffering of millions of Syrians caught up in an unremitting tragedy. Even in harsh economic times there can be no excuses for governments to shirk from their duty to dig deep and generously fund the aid effort. They cannot look the other way. This is the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis. The scale is staggering and getting worse. Syria’s people have suffered enough, they cannot be allowed to pay the price of the world’s failure to match their need,” said Jane Cocking, Humanitarian Director, Oxfam.

Oxfam is working in Syria through local organizations and working in Lebanon and Jordan helping Syrian refugees. The organization has so far helped some 60,000 Syrians and has plans to help 650,000. Oxfam's global fundraising goal for this work is $53 million but so far, only $16million has been raised. Click here to support Oxfam's work to help Syrians in crisis.

United States expected to sign Arms Trade Treaty soon

jforres — 2013-06-05T16:52:26Z

International relief and development organization Oxfam America expressed confidence today that the United States will sign the Arms Trade Treaty by the end of the year. The treaty, which was approved by the UN General Assembly in April, will regulate for the first time in history the shipment of weapons that can be used to commit the horrors of genocide, war crimes and attacks on civilians.

While the United States was not among the first 60 countries to sign the treaty, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that he welcomed the opening of the treaty for signature and looked forward to signing once the official translations of the text are completed satisfactorily.

In response, Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, issued the following statement.

"This is a historic moment. For the first time in history, there is an arms trade treaty to regulate the global arms trade.

“The bloodshed caused by armed violence in countries like Syria and South Sudan has gone on too long. While we are disappointed that the United States is not among the first signatories, we are confident the US will sign the treaty as expeditiously as possible.

“The United States played a key role during the negotiations and deserves a lot of credit for its leadership on crafting a treaty that will help save millions of lives in the future. We know President Obama understands the importance of a swift US signature.

"As a humanitarian organization, we’ve seen firsthand the impact of the global arms trade on innocent men, women and children in places like Syria and South Sudan. The time is now for the United States to sign this treaty as swiftly as possible to stop dangerous weapons from reaching violent extremists and human rights abusers. There is no time left to wait.”

One step toward a safer world

cmccabe — 2013-06-04T22:35:55Z

After more than a decade of campaigning by Oxfam and other rights organizations, a historic UN vote in April gave us the world's first-ever international Arms Trade Treaty.