This week’s UN meeting in New York will prepare the ground for a landmark UN conference on small arms controls in June.
"In 2006, the world has a choice. Either it continues to ignore the massive human cost of arms proliferation or it finally acts to control the arms trade," said Sarah Margon, Humanitarian Policy Advisor for Oxfam America. "No one but a criminal would knowingly sell a gun to a murderer, yet governments can sell weapons to regimes with a history of human rights violations or to countries where weapons will go to war criminals."
There is no comprehensive international agreement governing the transfer of arms. By contrast, there is a legally-binding global treaty governing the transfer between countries of items such as dinosaur bones and old postage stamps.
The Control Arms Campaign is calling on all UN member states at this week’s meeting to prepare the ground for a set of global principles to govern the sale of weapons as a building block towards a Treaty.
"Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone manufacture very few arms, yet they have been flooded with weapons, which have been used to kill, maim, displace and impoverish hundreds of thousands of people. Time and again, peacekeeping efforts have been undermined by the failure of governments to introduce effective arms controls. For the sake of millions of men, women and children who live in continual fear of armed violence, world leaders must seize this historic opportunity to begin negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty," said Denise Searle, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigns Director.
In Haiti, armed violence raging in the capital Port-au-Prince has increased uncertainty that credible and peaceful elections can be held in the coming months. The first presidential elections since President Aristide fled in February 2004 were postponed this month for the fourth time.
Yvonne, a 29-year-old Port-au-Prince resident interviewed in the Haiti report described an attack on 18 August 2005: "A group of bandits came to my home. They had machine guns, a lot of guns. They beat and raped me. We didn't have violence like this before. Bandits are killing people, and the police are killing people. Women are raped all the time."
In Sierra Leone, a UN arms embargo imposed during the 1991-2002 civil war was easily flouted, according to the report. The current patchwork of ineffective arms controls means that unscrupulous arms dealers quickly found a way round the embargo.
"Civilians in Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, and in many other countries, have endured a wave of killings, rapes and kidnappings and the unregulated arms trade has fuelled these atrocities. These victims cannot personally lobby the politicians who will decide whether to crack down on irresponsible arms deals, but their voices, and those of hundreds of thousands of people whose lives are devastated by armed violence every year, must be heard," said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).
Editor’s Notes:
The Control Arms campaign is a joint initiative by Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). It aims to reduce arms proliferation and misuse and to convince governments to introduce a binding arms trade treaty. There are over 600 million small arms and light weapons in the world today, and over eight million more are produced every year. Unless governments act to stop the spread of arms, more lives will be lost, more human rights violations will take place, and more people will be denied the chance to escape poverty.
Oxfam recognizes the right of countries to export and import weapons for self defense and law enforcement. However, states that engage in the arms trade have a corresponding duty to respect international human rights and humanitarian law, and to promote peaceful international relations. They must take necessary action to ensure that weapons do not end up in the wrong hands—those of non-state parties or security forces that violate human rights.
Violence is an unfortunate but prevalent reality in many poor communities. Therefore, programs to address poverty, insecurity, lack of sustainable livelihoods, and lack of equitable access to social services, financial assets, and opportunities are strengthened by efforts to control arms. Without action to break the cycle of violence and poverty, many communities will be reluctant to surrender their weapons.
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"Americans are mobilizing to demand trade justice," said Brian Rawson, national outreach organizer for Oxfam America. "Our agreement with Sun Microsystems helps us get the word out to a young tech-savvy audience, and will help us bring in even more supporters to this effort."<
p>Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign was launched to raise awareness and mobilize support to change international rules so trade can become part of the solution to poverty, not part of the problem. The campaign’s global petition, "The Big Noise," has been signed by almost 8 million people globally and calls on governments, international institutions and multinational companies to trade fairly . Make Trade Fair’s goal is to add more than 2 million supporters to the ranks of the fair trade movement through this campaign and deliver the Big Noise to world trade ministers this December at the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.
At shows during this summer and fall's "Twisted Logic" tour, Coldplay fans will be shown a video of lead singer Chris Martin visiting poor farmers in Ghana and talking about his support for the Make Trade Fair campaign. The video encourages concertgoers to sign onto Oxfam's Big Noise petition by texting their e-mail address to "TRADE" (87233 on their cell phones). The addresses are captured and cataloged and Sun's technology is being leveraged to initiate each fan's connection to the Make Trade Fair campaign. Immediately, a reply will come from Oxfam, moving the dialogue to the fan's e-mail inbox, and providing the opportunity to further engage with the campaign online.
This Oxfam relationship is just the latest step in Sun's "Share the Opportunity" initiative, a global effort to help promote participation in social change. Sun's resources were put to work at U2 concerts throughout Europe and the U.S., the historic Live 8 show in Philadelphia and have contributed to the mobilization of millions of individuals. Since the beginning of the campaign in March 2005, more than a quarter million supporters have joined, via text message, the fight to eradicate extreme poverty in Africa and throughout the world. Sun also recently announced a agreements with the United Nations to provide technology, support and training at the UN's series of Youth Leadership Summits, culminating in a global summit to be held next August at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York City in 2006. The summit's mission is to train the next generation of youth leaders to tackle the biggest problems of our age: extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, environmental devastation and gender inequality.
Sun believes the world is entering a new era – a Participation Age – where dramatically lowered barriers to entry, plummeting device prices, and near-universal connectivity are driving a new round of network participation. From blogs to Java™ technology, SMS messages to Web services, participants are forming communities to drive change, create new businesses, new social services, and new discoveries. This growth in the network economy is fueled by sharing and collaboration among communities interconnected by technology and driven by purpose. Sun also believes that sharing and collaboration in the Participation Age will stimulate innovation to help all participants from across the world grow and prosper.
A singular vision – "The Network Is The Computer"™ – guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at sun.com.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris, and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
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In a survey covering 3,500 people in the Maradi region, Oxfam found that nomads have recently lost 70 percent of their animals. As a result, 40 percent of adults and 30 percent of children in nomadic communities are living on one meal or less a day. Almost one in 10 families is surviving on a diet of mainly wild plants, leaves, and grass.
“Twelve centuries of nomadic culture are threatened with extinction if these people do not get long-term help to rebuild their livelihoods,” said Natasha Kofoworola Quist, Oxfam's regional director for West Africa. “To these people, losing your animals is like losing your life savings. Without their animals, they have no means of survival.”
The nomadic Tuareg and Fulani peoples, who travel hundreds of miles in search of pasture for their animals, make up about 20 percent of Niger's population. The current food crisis may prove a critical blow for these communities, which are already struggling due to recurring food crises and shrinking pastureland.
The Oxfam assessment also shows that farming communities have been badly hit. Farmers have lost on average 65 percent of their animals, and 20 percent of adults are living on one meal or less per day.
Though food distribution has now started in Niger, the United Nations appeal for the region remains dangerously short of funds with $50 million still needed. Even if these funds are raised, food aid will only provide temporary relief to nomadic communities.
"Fifty million dollars is needed now from rich countries to help people through to the next harvest in October. But food aid alone will not solve this crisis,” said Quist. “For nomads who have lost all or most of their animals, the harvest will make little difference. The emergency response must go hand in hand with sustained assistance for Niger's nomads.”
Oxfam is working with the Association for the Regeneration of Animal Breeding in Niger, known by its French initials AREN, to help nomadic communities in the Dakoro region. The program will help 130,000 people. People work in communal fields or clean villages in exchange for vouchers, which can be traded for food at local markets. This week, Oxfam is scaling up its program to assist families who have lost all their animals.
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The agreement was reached after several years of negotiations and a boycott organized by CIW against Taco Bell. The two groups have agreed to the following terms, ending CIW’s three-year boycott:
As a partner in Oxfam America’s Make Trade Fair campaign, CIW has made great strides in bringing to light injustices in the workforce, particularly those among tomato pickers in Immokalee.
“CIW has accomplished a crucial first step in creating a more equitable and just supply chain,” stated Molly Anderson, Director for Oxfam America’s US Regional Office. “The agreement between Yum! Brands, Inc., and CIW will provide corporations and consumers with continued product supply while offering better wages to farmworkers, helping to lift them out of devastating poverty.”
In a statement released today, Lucas Benitez, CIW Co-Director, said, “We are laying the groundwork for real change, both in the concrete conditions of farmworkers’ everyday lives and in the market itself, where this agreement is establishing important new standards of social responsibility.”
“If we as farmworkers are to one day indeed enjoy equal rights, the same rights all other workers in this country are guaranteed, this agreement must only be a beginning,” Benitez continued. “To make those rights truly universal, other leaders of the fast-food industry and the supermarket industry must join us on this path toward social responsibility.”
For more information, visit: http://www.ciw-online.org/news.html.
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In addition to the five million Zimbabweans relying on food handouts, around one million hungry people who would benefit from receiving food aid this month may not receive any at all because of insufficient funding.
Despite recent donations, the UN World Food Program still faces a shortfall of around $65 million for its operations in Zimbabwe until the end of March.
?We urge rich governments around the world to increase their aid to the UN emergency food appeal so that people won?t have to go without meals,? said Peter Mutoredzanwa, Oxfam?s country Director in Zimbabwe. ?Peoples? lives are in danger because of the lack of food. They are severely weakened and therefore less able to deal with cholera, which has spread across the country, or fight HIV/AIDS.
?I?ve met people who?ve gone for days without meals,? said Mutoredzanwa. ?Others told me they were eating wild fruit or vegetables. In cholera treatment centers, patients weren?t receiving any regular food either from health officials or their families, slowing their ability to recover quickly.
?The likelihood is that this year?s harvest will be even worse than last year?s and that food shortages could continue into 2010. As well as dealing with immediate needs, aid donors have to look at longer-term inputs to help farmers and prevent future food emergencies and food insecurity. This can be done through providing seeds for winter cropping, helping farmers to access fertilizers, and investing more in agriculture,? said Mutoredzanwa.
This week, Oxfam began distributing its monthly food aid to vulnerable families, working with the UN World Food Program. Oxfam is helping to feed more than 253,000 people in three districts of Midlands province, in central Zimbabwe, some of the most food insecure areas in the country.
People are set to receive rations this month of 10kgs of cereal and 1kgs of pulses—down from October levels of 12kgs of cereal and 1.28 kgs of pulses. Rations of cooking oil have been cut from last month?s figure of 0.6 liters to just 0.45 liters and there will be no distributions of corn soya beans. In addition, the numbers receiving food aid will be capped to a maximum of six people per household.
Desperate families have begun selling household assets and livestock to purchase basic food staples. A recent survey by the WFP found that nearly one in five households—including those receiving food aid—had sold assets in the past three months and that more than seventy per cent of households did so in order to buy food. Without livestock and valuables, families are even more vulnerable to future crises.
The study also revealed that 12% of households reported not having eaten any food in the previous day.
Zimbabwe has a shortage of seeds and fertilizers and most farmers can?t afford to buy agricultural inputs which are now only sold in foreign, rather than Zimbabwean currency.
]]>"Delay is not an option as this crisis could rapidly spread with the rainy season looming. The government of Zimbabwe must acknowledge the extent of the crisis and take immediate steps to mobilize all available resources to deal with the epidemic," said Charles Abani, Regional Director for Oxfam in Southern Africa. "We urgently need international donors to support all humanitarian plans to tackle the problem."
Ordinary Zimbabweans are desperately short of food, health care, clean water and safe sanitation. Cholera, a water-borne disease, has surged due to the breakdown of city sewerage systems, poor maintenance of water supply systems including hand pumps, severe drinking water shortages, and the lack of basic hygiene items such as soap. Oxfam has contracted 10 trucks to transport more than 200 tonnes of soap and disinfectant into Zimbabwe.
The crisis is set to worsen significantly in December, when the rainy season begins. Cholera is already starting to spread into neighboring countries.
"Our field assessments show an alarming deterioration of water quality and supply in clinics and hospitals with virtually none having access to safe water, and patients often having to supply their own. This applies equally to urban and rural health centers,? said Abani.
Oxfam is:
"There have been more than 6000 cases of cholera reported since this epidemic began. These numbers are conservative however, as they don't include people who are sick and dying at home, without access to a clinic or hospital," said Abani.
"Oxfam's call to the political parties of Zimbabwe, leaders in the region and to the global community is to deal with this humanitarian crisis, irrespective of the status of political negotiations. In the interest of the poorest and most vulnerable Zimbabweans, and of countries neighboring Zimbabwe, all concerned parties need to hasten a political settlement".
]]>At lunchtime on Tuesday (29 July), discussions were continuing between key players on a number of controversial issues. Chief among them, the details of a mechanism designed to allow poor countries to protect their small farmers against agricultural import surges.
Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said: ?Developing countries gained some ground in the last few hours around flexibility to defend their smallest farmers, however the overall package is still very imbalanced, with poor countries being asked to give up much more than they would gain.
?It is outrageous to imply that poor countries are in some way to blame for the failure till now to get a deal. If the EU and US actually came forward and made meaningful offers that lived up to their promises, we would see progress. Instead, they continue to demand harsh concessions from developing countries in exchange for largely illusory reforms. Until there is a better deal on the table, developing countries are perfectly right to hold their ground.?
Oxfam said the issue of US cotton subsidies should be addressed urgently as a symbol of the inequity of global trade. The US lost a case at the WTO against its subsidies, and promised to reform them more ambitiously and faster than other agricultural support. However, meaningful proposals have not been forthcoming, and the US has largely failed to engage with the African countries affected.
Oxfam said that Ministers needed to remember that the current round of negotiations, launched 7 years ago in Doha, was meant to reform trade rules to benefit developing countries. Since then the talks have lost their way and rich countries have pursued self-interest and made unreasonable demands.
Hobbs: ?This is not just about trading off a few billion dollars in agriculture for a few billion dollars in industrial goods. It is about addressing the damage done by decades of rich countries' farm subsidies and protectionism on one hand, and ensuring that developing countries have the right to industrialize their way out of poverty on the other.?
The current meeting was meant to finish last Saturday. Talks are tentatively scheduled to wrap up tomorrow but all deadlines are shifting and there is a lot of uncertainty around process and likely outcome.
Oxfam warned against pushing a bad deal through to meet deadlines or restore political credibility. ?If it takes time to do a deal that is good for development then so be it. No deadline or political reputation is worth sacrificing the opportunity for genuine reform or jeopardizing the livelihoods of poor people,? said Hobbs.
]]>“Just look at the headlines—skyrocketing food prices are setting off riots in countries across the world where people were already living on a knife’s edge. We have a moral responsibility to reduce poverty—but if you look at the instability caused by the current food crisis, it’s clear that reducing global poverty is fundamental to our national security as well.
“Making aid work for the world’s poor and American taxpayers means the next President and Congress must seize this historic opportunity to make aid more effective by responding to the needs of recipients. This is a basic business approach—know your customer. Our current top-down approach isn’t going to cut it.”
Howard Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, called the aid reform hearing held today on Capitol Hill. The event was an important first step in Berman’s planned overhaul of US foreign assistance.
In response to Berman’s question on whether foreign aid should be provided to further US national security interests or to spur development and reduce global poverty, Offenheiser said:
“The national security establishment here in Washington has publicly acknowledged the threat of global poverty and this country’s limited ability to fight it with its current foreign aid system.”
According to Oxfam, designing a foreign aid strategy to reduce global poverty is itself a compelling American national interest. Foreign aid programs that are not designed with long-term poverty reduction as their clear purpose will not reduce poverty. Fighting poverty can deliver long-term security benefits, but only if the focus is first on poverty.
Testifying before the committee, Offenheiser, who has over 30 years of experience working on development and foreign assistance, made the case that the US has the greatest opportunity for foreign aid reform it has seen since the 1960’s, when the current aid system was implemented.
“The beginning of a new presidency is the best opportunity for real progress in foreign aid reform—there is both the need and opportunity to redefine America's global role,” said Offenheiser. “It’s clear that Americans are ready to embrace change as well—our image abroad matters to them.”
In a poll conducted by the Aspen Institute and World Learning in February, 9 out of 10 people believe it is very important for other countries to have a favorable opinion of Americans.
Oxfam supports a vision for a new US foreign assistance system that includes a new law, a new structure and a new strategy. Oxfam calls on the next President to work with Congress to:
Oxfam’s detailed policy recommendations can be found in its report, Smart Development: Why US Foreign Aid Demands Major Reform.
Offenheiser testified along with Lael Brainard, vice president and director of global economy and development at the Brookings Institution; Steve Radelet, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development; and Jim Kolbe, senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
]]>The US offered today to cap so-called trade distorting farm subsidies at $15bn. However, Oxfam estimates that current spending is between $7-9bn, so no real cuts will be required.
Oxfam acknowledged that it was important to set a lower limit on trade distorting spending but said that $15bn was not low enough.
"Fifteen billion is around twice what the US is spending at the moment. They would not have to cut a penny off current subsidies as a result of this offer," said Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International.
"This offer, while better than the last, will need to be substantially improved if there is to be a breakthrough this week.
"Failure to improve on this would be a huge missed opportunity to undertake fundamental and much needed reform when prices are high. Developing country farmers have suffered too long from the negative impacts of subsidies and dumping."
The US trade negotiator also indicated that they would be seeking some form of protection from future legal challenges at the WTO.
Hobbs: "Requesting this sort of immunity upfront is tantamount to admitting intention to break the rules in the future. It adds insult to injury."
]]>Ahead of a meeting between the US and the four main West African cotton-producing countries, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Benin, Oxfam said that the US must act in good faith and honour its promises to treat cotton as a priority issue, given the damage it was doing to the prospects of poor farmers in Africa.
Isabel Mazzei, Head of Oxfam?s Geneva office said: ?Cotton has become a symbol of the unfairness of the global trading system. In West Africa alone, ten million people depend on cotton for their livelihoods. For these households, the subsidies the US pays its farmers have a critical bearing on their ability to put food on the table, educate their children, and sustain their health.?
US cotton producers will receive about $1 billion annually in subsidies over the next five years, under the new US Farm Bill. The vast majority of these subsidies go to about 12,000 mostly large-scale cotton farms and a quarter of all subsidies go to the top one percent of recipients, who get $500,000 each on average.
This week in Geneva the US made a new offer to cap its trade distorting agricultural subsides at $15bn but Oxfam says this would not require the US to cut trade-distorting cotton subsidies by one cent.
Along with the offer the US said it wanted immunity from legal challenges at the WTO. Given that subsidy programs in the new Farm Bill are likely to run afoul of WTO rules, this seriously calls into question US willingness to effectively reduce trade-distorting subsidies.
Indeed, the Farm Bill recently passed by the US Congress reinstated cotton subsidies already ruled illegal at the WTO ? the so-called ?Step 2? payments that were successfully challenged by Brazil in a WTO case concluded in 2005. Subsidy programs such as counter cyclical payments, confirmed by the WTO as causing serious prejudice to other exporters of cotton, have not been reformed either.
The EU also has cotton subsidies that need reforming, though not on the scale of the US. Oxfam is critical of the EU for dragging its feet on reform and not showing adequate support to the so-called ?cotton four? in the WTO negotiations.
Mazzei: ?It has been proven time and again that cotton subsidies do significant damage to farmers in developing countries. If the US fails to shift its position on cotton and continues steadfastly to defend its illegal and immoral subsidies, then no fair development deal can be done this week in Geneva.?
]]>In a new report today, ?Climate, Poverty, and Justice,? Oxfam said there was wide-spread awareness now that climate change is already a grim and worsening reality for poor people. Oxfam said that Poznan must focus on the most vital areas now in order to set up a deal—to be signed within a year—to keep global warming below 2ï¾°C and help the poorest people to cope. This includes:
Bert Maerten, who is leading Oxfam?s campaign at Poznan, said ?We have the knowledge, resources and technology to tackle climate change and avert worst-case scenarios—if we choose to do so. What we lack is the political will, and progress so far has been wholly inadequate.?
?However, if all developed countries show bold leadership now in Poznan, it could set the stage for an adequate deal in Copenhagen next year,? he said.
Climate change is already impacting on millions of the world?s poorest and most vulnerable people who have also been severely hit recently by food and oil price hikes, and are set to pay further from the collapse of financial markets. The post-2012 agreement must massively scale up adaptation implementation in developing countries and limit global warming to levels where human development and mass poverty reduction can remain a viable goal. ?Poor and vulnerable people are in no shape to absorb more set-backs,? Maerten said.
Global emissions have been rising faster in recent years than even worst-case scenario climate modelling has tracked. The world must agree to cut emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 in order to try to stay below 2ï¾°C warming. There would be catastrophic impacts above that, with almost two billion people likely to be affected by water shortages, global agriculture undermined, and hunger likely to kill up to three million more people every year. If global temperatures are allowed to climb above 3ï¾°C, billions of people would be affected by severe water stress, crop yields would fall drastically around the world and entire regions would become non-viable for agriculture.
?This ?big picture? will happen gradually over time, which is why we must move now to tackle the problem. We?re already seeing seasonal weather patterns becoming more unreliable, causing flooding, erosion and drought. People have an amazing capacity to cope with what nature throws at them but the most vulnerable people only have to fail once to fall into poverty with no way out,? Maerten said.
?Governments must not forget they are negotiating over the lives and livelihoods of millions of people,? said Maerten. ?Any level of global warming that would inevitably make large land areas uninhabitable, destroy the livelihoods of whole societies, lead to the loss of island nations and leave populations no other option but to migrate, is not acceptable.?
The costs of tackling climate change are not prohibitive, Oxfam says—around 1% of global GDP per year, compared to the costs of doing nothing around 20 times higher—according to estimates. Rich countries must commit to cutting their emissions first and furthest because they are historically responsible for creating the problem, and they have the means to pay to help developing countries to mitigate and adapt.
However, Oxfam is very concerned that among the key negotiating states, there are wildly diverging positions on key topics, such as emissions targets, adaptation financing and effort sharing.
?We need to see the same political urgency and leadership now to push for a good climate change deal as we did in the face of the global financial crisis,? Maerten said.
]]>For a Safer Tomorrow: Protecting Civilians in a Multipolar World warns that the safety of civilians throughout the world will be in jeopardy unless these emerging and existing global powers work together to better protect all civilians from falling victim to conflict through genocide and other atrocities.
?The next President of the United States will take office 60 years after the Geneva Conventions of 1949 enshrined the right of civilians to be protected in times of armed conflict. Yet the fundamental principle that civilians should be protected from violence and abuse in warfare is violated in every current conflict,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.
According to the report, there is an opportunity for change. For a Safer Tomorrow is based on Oxfam?s experience responding to the world?s conflicts for more than 60 years. It reviews the protection of civilians in current and recent conflicts, and examines the implications of the shift in global power. It sets out an agenda to protect civilians through local, national and regional action with far more consistent international support.
Examples from the last year show that violence against civilians can be prevented by organized local, regional, and international efforts. For example, in January 2008 Kenya did not collapse into bloody civil war, partly because of local community action to prevent widespread outbreaks of violence as well as efforts by African and international leaders to restore peace.
?The wars in Darfur and Afghanistan have shown us that the political will to stop violence to civilians is not enough? said Offenheiser. ?The will to act must be coupled with capable institutions, wise prioritization, and international cooperation.?
According to the report, the war on terror has overshadowed crises like the Democratic Republic of Congo which has lost 5.4 million people?eight per cent of its population?to conflict and the deadly hunger and disease that it has unleashed since 1998. This year, more than a thousand women a month have reported being raped, many as part of a systematic campaign linked to the conflict.
"Americans sympathize with those who suffer atrocities, but many feel impotent to do anything about it. This powerlessness seems justified as multiple presidents have promised ?never again? after mass civilian deaths in the Holocaust, Rwanda, and Srebrenica but failed to follow this rhetoric with concrete action,? said Offenheiser. ?The next president of the US will soon enter the Oval Office. It?s time to prove that the US can make a real impact in ending the atrocities that are still too common in conflicts around the world.?
To protect civilians caught up in armed conflict and improve global peace and stability, Oxfam is calling on the United States to:
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that some 650,000 people nation-wide have been affected by the storm.
More than 61 people are reported to have died, the majority in the town of Gona�ves, where more than 11,000 people have sought refuge in temporary shelters. Shelters are also filling up in the town of Ennery just north of Gonaives. Food, water, and basic supplies are scarce, and health and sanitation conditions are extremely worrisome as human waste is being disposed in the stagnant waters, already contaminated with carcasses of dead animals.
?The town of Gonaives has been completely devastated. The streets are lined with groups of people walking through the streets trying to find higher ground,? described Mr. Parnell A. Denis Oxfam?s contact on the ground in Gonaives. Food supplies and water are scarce and the price for what food is left is rising. The moral of people staying in the shelters is so very low; I am afraid to tell them that another storm is on its way?. Ike, a category 4 hurricane, is forecasted to pass to the north of Haiti early Sunday morning.
Until today, water levels at the South entrance of the town had cut off access to humanitarian convoys from Port-au-Prince; entrance from the north remains inaccessible. Oxfam International Haiti is preparing an evaluation team to travel to Gona�ves to conduct an in depth assessment of the situation. Additional distributions of kits and water to Gonaives are planned for the coming days and joint interventions are being coordinated with other NGOs.
In the west department, Oxfam is coordinating with local authorities in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area to provide support for 6 shelters currently housing more than 1,100 people.
In the North, Oxfam teams have been conducting evaluations with local authorities and other NGOs to assess the extent of the damage and are ready to distribute non-food item kits in the north.
In the Nippes department, Oxfam is following up its first response to Hurricane Gustav with the deployment of an in depth evaluation team. Last weekend, Oxfam distributed non-food item kits to 110 families, in addition to 700 5-gallon bottles of drinking water.
All actions are being carried out in collaboration with local authorities in each area.
]]>The unease and uncertainty comes as the region is still in the early stages of a post-Katrina recovery expected to take at least 10 years. With tens of thousands of people still living in FEMA trailers and just a fraction of the affordable housing in the region replaced, Hurricane Gustav or the next major hurricane to strike the coast is set to deal a crippling blow.
"The uneven and inequitable state of recovery of the Gulf Coast is a national embarrassment," said Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser. "The failure of our government to properly respond to the region is not only shameful, it puts the lives of individuals in the path of the next hurricane at risk. That is inexcusable."
A new Oxfam America report released this week, "Mirror on America: How the state of Gulf Coast recovery reflects on us all," reveals just how little has been done to recover from the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. More than 35,000 individuals are still living in FEMA trailers in the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana, just 25,000 of the nearly 82,000 affordable apartment units destroyed by Katrina and Rita are slated to be replaced. Families are living in half-finished homes or have exhausted their savings in order to rebuild. Inadequate insurance makes many families significantly less resilient.
Many residents who left after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have yet to return and many more say they will leave permanently should a new storm hit the coast. Since 2005, just 12 percent of African-American evacuees who returned to New Orleans after the hurricanes were able to find work, compared with 45 percent of white evacuees, according to the report.
Oxfam America is calling on emergency management officials to work closely with local service organizations, many of which were created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Oxfam America is also deeply concerned that preparation for the next storm should not push aside the outstanding needs for long term recovery in the region. The next administration must create an Office for Gulf Coast Recovery headed by a federal coordinator; to make sure all federally subsidized housing destroyed in the storms is reopened or replaced; to require states Gulf Coast states that receive federal recovery dollars to provide regular reports on the use of those funds; and to ensure compliance with labor laws.
"The third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the threat posed by Gustav are far too sober reminders of how much more we need to do to fully restore the Gulf Coast," said Offenheiser. "We must fulfill our promise to rebuild the Gulf Coast and renew our commitment to a region that is a vital part of America."
]]>?The UN negotiations towards emissions reductions beyond 2012 have proceeded at a glacial pace,? said Phil Bloomer, senior executive with Oxfam. ?Poznan was meant to be a staging post on the way to an ambitious deal that would be achieved in Copenhagen, but instead, it is like a polluting truck stalled in the truck stop.?
Far from the rapid progress that was needed after last year?s conference in Bali, little has been achieved. On the big issues—a vision for the future, targets, financing, clean technology—the negotiating text has not progressed.
?This is collective complacency on a major scale?, said Bloomer. ?But it is not too late for Ministers to make crucial decisions that would move the negotiations forward.?
Ministers have been asked by the Secretary General Yvo de Boer to address six questions at a round table on Thursday. The right answers to those questions—answers based on science and reflecting equity—would move the negotiations forward. It is not too late to salvage an outcome from Poznan. Oxfam?s suggested answers are included here.
Oxfam called for urgent action especially on the issue of adaptation—helping developing countries protect themselves from climate impacts and adapt to them. The elements are almost agreed to—starting up the Adaptation Fund, finalising a work programme, and, the crucial element, ensuring enough funding to meet the urgent needs. Negotiators are stuck on this last issue, but without it, there is little that can be done to save lives and prevent suffering.
?Ministers could leave Poznan with an agreement on adaptation, an issue that is crucial to millions of people suffering from climate change impacts,? said Bloomer. ?But sensible proposals on funding adaptation have so far been rejected by negotiators from the EU and most other rich countries. This is unacceptable. Instead of ducking the finance issue, Ministers arriving in Poznan must reach a decision to fund adaptation in developing countries to take effect as soon as the ink is dry in Copenhagen.?
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