“This landmark figure of one million refugees forced to flee fighting is an indictment of international failings to deal with the Syrian crisis. It should now spur governments and donors to redouble efforts to tackle both the refugee crisis and the conflict within the country," said Oxfam’s Syria response crisis program manager, Francis Lacasse.
“In January, donors promised more than $1.5 billion in aid. Only about 20 percent of this has been received, leaving aid organizations struggling to respond to the urgent needs of refugees who are flooding into neighboring countries as well as the millions who need help inside Syria.”
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, which funds Oxfam’s emergency work in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, has said it has only received 9 percent of requested funds and, without additional resources, the agency says it will have to scale back on life-saving interventions, including water, sanitation and hygiene work, and child protection.
“This money needs to be released immediately to address urgent and growing needs,” said Lacasse.
While more than one million refugees have been recorded by UNHCR, the true figure is likely to be much higher, say aid workers, since many Syrians fleeing their country choose not to register with the agency.
On Friday (March 2) the UN Secretary General warned that Syria would fall apart if its government and rebels continued fighting instead of seeking a negotiated peace.
“The likelihood is that the situation will continue to worsen, yet we are not getting enough help right now to support the refugees, with some organizations saying they may have to curtail some of their life-saving work. The prediction for the coming months is grim,” said Lacasse.
Oxfam teams are planning to assist 120,000 people in Lebanon and Jordan. Click here to support Oxfam’s Syria appeal.
]]>Almost five million people were affected when heavy rains flooded parts of Baluchistan, Punjab and Sindh from mid-September 2012. Persistent floodwater meant many were homeless for months, unable to resume their usual way of making a living. Over a million people who did return to their villages found their homes too badly damaged to inhabit at the end of 2012, a UN survey found.
Flood victims have been forced into high level of debt and at increased risk of exploitation, ill health and long term destitution. Women, children, elderly people and flood survivors with disabilities are most at risk, warned the aid organizations.
Financial resources for critical relief and recovery work have almost dried up, said members of the National Humanitarian Network and the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum in a joint briefing published on Monday.
“Many flood survivors are poor farming families who missed the winter sowing season and have gone deeper into debt,” said Dr. Manzoor Awan, deputy executive director of Sungi Development Foundation and chairman of the National Humanitarian Network. “If they miss the next one too, it’ll be a second disaster for them.”
The aid organizations said that Pakistani authorities had provided vital life-saving assistance to tens of thousands of families. Additionally, although the federal government had avoided calling for international donor assistance, several donors had responded generously to requests from the UN and other aid organizations to support their flood response. However, the overall relief and recovery effort had not matched the scale, scope and duration of the disaster.
“We need sustained efforts by Pakistani authorities, international donors and aid organizations so that flood survivors can keep their families safe and healthy now, and get timely support to rebuild their livelihoods, homes and communities,” said Fayaz Ahmed, country director of Islamic Relief and chairman of the Pakistani Humanitarian Forum.
“A strong recovery and reconstruction strategy should be followed by intensified work led by the government to ensure Pakistanis are better prepared for future disasters,” said Arif Jabbar Khan, country director of Oxfam. “We need to accelerate current efforts. With climate change set to make floods and droughts more frequent and severe, the next government should make this a priority.”
ENDS
Note to editors:
1. The National Humanitarian Network is an alliance of 159 Pakistani NGOs working to provide emergency relief and promote disaster resilience.
2. The Pakistani Humanitarian Forum is an alliance of 53 international NGOs working to provide emergency relief and promote disaster resilience in Pakistan.
3. The Monsoon Humanitarian Operations Plan, launched by the UN in September 2012, requested $168 million from international donors to assist flood affected communities. By 1 March it was only 30 percent funded. Activities to provide shelter were only 5 percent funded, health activities 6 percent funded, and water and sanitation projects just 8%.
Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty.
]]>Increasing conflict over the last months linked to disputes over land and mineral resources challenges the notion that Darfur is on a path to peace. In January, an estimated 100,000 people were displaced and 100 killed by intertribal fighting in Jebel Amr in North Darfur, and conflict in recent days killed an additional 50 people. According to the UN, the number of those displaced in the first two months of 2013 alone represents more than all of those displaced in 2012 combined.
With the bridge from conflict to peace still under construction, the international community must recommit to working towards peace in Sudan. Local peace efforts need to be encouraged and humanitarian aid must reach the millions of people who still need it.
“We have 1.4 million people still living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur who cannot return home safely,” said El Fateh Osman, Country Director for Oxfam in Sudan. “With a renewed commitment to seek a just peace – including through better funding for and implementation of provisions outlined in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) – the country and the region can begin to emerge from this protracted crisis which has caused so much suffering and cost so many lives.”
The government – with the support of the hybrid United Nations/African Union Peacekeeping Mission UNAMID – must protect people from violence, and it must guarantee displaced people the right to return safely home if they choose. Those who do not wish to return even when there is peace must not be forced to do so. Ten years after the start of the conflict, Darfur has changed forever. More urbanized than before, the camps are home to large numbers of people who are not able to return to rural areas, and this reality must be reflected in donor and government policies. Humanitarian access must reach those in need throughout the country – including in areas affected by the separate but related conflict in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States – and the government must accelerate efforts to provide services to all citizens.
“This anniversary should serve as a moment to awaken our consciousness and put an end to this conflict once and for all. The international community has spent 10 years trying to ease the impact of this crisis; now is the time to find lasting solutions and to help the people of Darfur to rebuild their lives and their communities” said Osman.
]]>Talks resume in Singapore this week for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), where the US is expected to insist that countries must take on strict intellectual property protection and drug pricing rules when they sign the deal. At the same time, the US will meet with World Trade Organization members in Geneva to determine whether the world’s poorest countries (least developed countries, or LDCs) can avoid implementing intellectual property rules until they are able to graduate from extreme poverty.
“Between the TPPA negotiations and the meeting of the TRIPS Council, the US will seek in one week to dramatically expand intellectual property rules across most countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, with damning public health consequences,” said Stephanie Burgos, Oxfam’s America’s senior policy adviser. “For millions of people lacking access to medicines today, these new rules could mean that medicines will not be affordable, for themselves, their families and generations to follow.”
In the past decade, the US has consistently demanded in these trade negotiations that poor countries introduce measures that will increase medicine prices. Despite opposition from many of its trading partners, the US is insisting on intellectual property provisions that introduce an expanded scope of patentability, data exclusivity, patent linkage and patent term extensions, all of which expand drug industry monopolies at the expense of public health. The US has also proposed new pharmaceutical pricing rules that would hinder the ability of governments to effectively negotiate medicine prices with big drug companies.
In Vietnam, for example, government officials, experts and civil society groups are already worried about the possible impact of the TPPA on medicine prices. Thousands more people could be pushed into poverty, forced to choose between medicines and other basic necessities, or to forego treatment altogether. Many medicines for diseases including cancer and Hepatitis B and C are already unaffordable for most people there.
The TPPA also comes at a bad time for efforts to provide universal treatment to HIV and AIDS. Up to 170,000 people living with HIV and AIDS still require basic treatment in Vietnam and thousands more will soon need new, patented anti-retroviral medicines as they will develop resistance to their current treatments. US proposals will increase these medicine costs too – undermining US global health efforts through PEPFAR, which currently finances more than half of the country’s HIV and AIDS treatment budget. It will also undermine the Vietnamese government’s future ability to sustain and expand national efforts to address HIV and AIDS, especially after 2015 when the US may stop providing foreign assistance to Vietnam to treat HIV and AIDS.
“The US is putting the interests of the drug industry above those of public health,” said Burgos. “Not only do US policies fly in the face of commitments made under original World Trade Organization rules and under the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, they also undermine the effectiveness of the US’s generous aid to pay for treatment in poor countries.”
As the coordinating body that oversees the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement meets in Geneva this week, trade negotiators must decide whether to renew a waiver issued to LDCs that previously delayed implementation of intellectual property rules for medicines until 2016, and a waiver on all other intellectual property rules until June 2013. Least developed countries are the poorest countries in the world, with approximately 80 percent of all people in LDCs – more than 750 million people – living on less than $2 per day. But the US has been opposing this waiver, even though WTO rules clearly grant LDCs the right to request and have it granted.
“Intellectual property rules have direct and profound impacts on public health, particularly through intellectual property rules, but time and again, the US Trade Representative has insisted on far-reaching rules that expand drug industry monopolies and thus keep the prices of new medicines high,” said Burgos. “Not only does this undermine the sustainability of public health-care programs, this approach has discredited trade itself as a tool for poverty reduction. “The US government must urgently reconsider its approach on trade policy and access to medicines.”
/ENDS
]]>The event will serve as a platform for conference Advisory Committee members Aga Khan Foundation, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Freedom from Hunger, Oxfam America, PLAN, and USAID will launch “50 by 2020,” an initiative expanding savings groups membership globally from 6 to 50 million by 2020.
WHO:
WHAT: Two-day conference with panel discussions on the financial and social impact of savings groups and a vision for the future. For full agenda and additional information visit: www.oxfamamerica.org/sgconference
WHEN: March 4-5, 2013
WHERE: Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel, 900 Orme Street Arlington, VA 22204
WHY: Savings groups (SGs) provide access to basic financial services to rural poor people, mostly women, worldwide and provide members a secure place to save and have easy access to loans. SGs stabilize income, increase household financial assets and decrease vulnerability to financial and other shocks. They are a simple, transparent, cost-effective and sustainable means of providing financial services to the poor. This conference will highlight how SGs have positively affected financial inclusion, literacy, health, humanitarian response, and gender violence and serve as a launch pad for an expansion of SGs globally.
/Ends
Oxfam America is a global organization working to right the wrongs of poverty, hunger, and injustice. We save lives, develop long-term solutions to poverty, and campaign for social change. As one of 17 members of the international Oxfam confederation, we work with people in more than 90 countries to create lasting solutions.
]]>“The fight against poverty, both here and abroad, is one of America’s proudest traditions and smartest investments. Congress must protect these small but critically important parts of our country’s budget to save lives, help people lift themselves out of poverty, spur economic growth, and make the world a better and safer place.
“Congress needs to stop putting America’s prosperity and security on the line, and find a way to continue these crucial lifesaving programs.
“While few would disagree that the federal government needs to reduce our massive deficits, pretending to achieve fiscal responsibility by cutting relatively small programs that benefit the poor is shameful and simply doesn’t work.
“Life saving foreign aid, for example, is less than one percent of the budget. No matter how you dice it, you simply can’t cover a budget gap with it.
“Cuts to these tiny programs will have serious consequences. As we mark ten years since the beginning of the conflict in Darfur, 3.4 million people are relying on aid to survive and sequestration would chop 200 million dollars out of our humanitarian assistance accounts. According to Secretary of State John Kerry, double that amount will be cut from global health funding, devastating efforts to stop HIV/AIDs and child death.
“Sequestration cuts would also dismantle much of the progress the US government has made in recent decades to improve the efficiency and impact of our assistance.
“Here at home, 600,000 poor children and mothers will lose WIC nutrition aid and 70,000 children will no longer be able to attend Head Start programs, according to the Coalition on Human Needs. Other initiatives that help the neediest Americans will also be slashed: 125,000 low-income families will lose rental vouchers; four million fewer Meals on Wheels will be served to the elderly; more than 370,000 adults and children will lose treatment for mental illness.
“The bottom line is that these across the board ‘blind’ sequester cuts will cost lives. Budget-cutting by sequester is shortsighted, irresponsible and an inhumane attack on the poor.”
/ENDS
Editor’s note: Oxfam America does not receive US government funds.
]]>Some 5,000 refugees are fleeing Syria every day, 36 percent more than were leaving in December last year. Many have just the clothes on their backs. The UN’s “worst-case scenario” forecast that one million-plus refugees will have fled Syria by June is likely to be realized within weeks.
Although $1.5 billion for the Syria humanitarian response was promised at a donor conference in Kuwait last month, only 20 percent of funding has been received.
“The humanitarian crisis is worsening day by day, leaving relief organizations struggling to provide help that’s desperately needed,” said Francis Lacasse, Oxfam’s Syria crisis response manager. “Money that was generously promised a month ago is urgently needed now, to allow organizations to continue providing basic services like food, water and shelter to ever-growing refugee populations.
“More than five thousand people are fleeing Syria into neighboring countries every day, placing a massive burden on the host communities and with the potential to undermine stability in the region.”
Since the conflict began almost two years ago, more than 925,000 Syrians have fled the conflict. Inside Syria, where more than two million more have been displaced from their homes, the costs of basic commodities have increased; health facilities have been damaged or destroyed; and contaminated water supplies have resulted in an increase in waterborne diseases such as Hepatitis A and typhoid.
Lebanon and Jordan, which host the largest numbers, are to be commended for keeping their borders open and continuing to provide assistance for the refugees, despite severely strained resources. This month, Jordan recorded its highest-ever figure with more than 50,000 new arrivals.
Refugee numbers have doubled in Egypt over the last three months, risen by almost one-fifth in Turkey since the start of the year, and Iraq already hosts refugee numbers much larger than it had forecast for the end of June.
In Jordan, more than 120,000 refugees are officially registered at the sprawling Zaatari desert camp, near the Syrian border. The camp, the size of a large city, is almost full to capacity. The massive influx is already creating tensions and conflict over sparse resources. The Jordanian government will need additional financial support to provide a safe environment for the refugees and its own population.
Aid organizations in the camp are also facing challenges because of the sudden upsurge in refugee numbers. Oxfam is installing water and hygiene facilities in what was meant to be a new, unfilled section of the camp. But the fast-moving crisis has meant the organization has had to provide temporary facilities for thousands of refugees who have moved in before permanent facilities have been completed, creating extra work and adding to overall costs.
The Jordanian government is planning to open at least two new camps to house the refugees.
But most Syrians refugees live outside camps, scattered in towns and villages both here in Jordan and in other countries neighboring Syria, where it’s harder for them to access aid. Rental prices for housing have shot up, while health and school facilities have struggled to keep pace with increased demands, creating new hardships for both the refugees and their hosts.
“This is likely to be a prolonged crisis and relief organizations and governments need to prepare for the long-haul,” said Oxfam’s Francis Lacasse. “Even if there was an immediate halt to the violence today, there will be massive humanitarian needs that will need to be addressed for months and years to come. There is no quick fix.”
Humanitarian organizations recognize that host communities have been extraordinarily generous in helping the new arrivals, but tensions could arise in the future because of the increased costs of living, finding shelter and other services and limited job opportunities.
Oxfam teams are planning to assist 120,000 people in Lebanon and Jordan. Donations to support Oxfam’s efforts in Syria can be made here.
]]>“It’s time these companies take more responsibility for their immense influence on poor people’s lives,” said Offenheiser. “Eighty percent of the world’s hungry people work in food production and these companies employ millions of people in developing countries to grow their ingredients. They control hundreds of the world’s most popular brands and have the economic, social and political clout to make a real and lasting difference to the world’s poor and hungry.”
‘Behind the Brands’ –part of Oxfam’s GROW Campaign - will launch in more than 12 countries including the US, Mexico, China, Brazil and across Europe.
Its first public action will target Nestle, Mondelez and Mars for their failure to address inequality faced by women who grow cocoa for their chocolate products. Today Oxfam is also releasing a brief with first-hand accounts of the inequality that women cocoa growers face. Oxfam is urging the three companies to do more to know and show how women are treated in their supply chains, create an action plan to address inequality for women in their supply chains and engage in advocacy to influence other powerful actors to do the same.
“No brand is too big to listen to its customers,” said Offenheiser. “If enough people urge the big food companies to do what is right, they have no choice but to listen. By contacting companies on Twitter and Facebook, or signing a petition to their CEO, consumers can do their part to help bring lasting change in our broken food system by showing companies their customers expect them to operate responsibly.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
See the full scorecard at www.oxfamamerica.org/behindthebrands
Read Oxfam's Behind the Brands report: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/behind-the-brands
Read Oxfam's media brief Mars, Mondelez, Nestle and the Fight for Women's Rights: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/mars-mondelez-and-nestle-and-the-fight-for-women2019s-rights
Images of women cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast: http://resources.oxfamamerica.org/pages/search.php?search=!collection1974&k=6969f243a8
Images of women cocoa farmers in Nigeria: http://resources.oxfamamerica.org/pages/search.php?search=!collection1971&k=23d6307910
Video: The Truth about Women and Chocolate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYqZO4fUSzg
]]>“Tensions in the El Sireaf area are still high and have the potential to spread more widely. We are worried that there will be more displacement and we are already struggling to meet the needs of those who have already been forced to flee their homes,” El Fateh Osman, Oxfam’s Sudan Country Director said.
At least 90,000 people have been estimated to have been displaced by intertribal fighting in the Jebel Amir area of North Darfur’s El Sireaf locality famous for its gold production. The UN has said that the displacement from Jebel Amir area in the past weeks has been more than the number displaced through all of 2012.
“People are really in a panic and very fearful of more violence. Those who have been able to flee are not sure when they will be able to return to their home areas, many of which have been destroyed in the fighting,” Oxfam’s Humanitarian Coordinator for North Darfur Hamouda Kanu said. “They have inadequate shelter for this colder time of year and are forced to defecate in the open. This could lead to the spread of disease.”
Oxfam and its partner the Kebkabiya Smallholders Charitable Society (KSCS) have been able to provide clean water through trucking and additional latrines for a large proportion of the estimated 1,800 households (between 7,200 and 10,800 people) that fled to Kebkabiya town. KSCS have also been able to distribute blankets and plastic sheeting to around 1,500 households in Gahra El Zawiya but shortages have meant some 300 households there have not received any assistance.
An estimated 40 to 60,000 people have been displaced from surrounding villages to El Seraif town. Oxfam and KSCS are attempting to send materials to construct 200 latrines in El Sireaf together with two technical experts but called on government authorities to improve access for humanitarian groups that so far has been limited. Oxfam and KSCS also called for local authorities and tribal leaders to meet and together diffuse tensions in the area.
Oxfam said the road linking Kebkabiya to El Sireaf town must be immediately opened to allow for bulky aid supplies to be transported to the area in order to help prevent the crisis there from worsening.
Oxfam also warned that the areas affected by the new surge in fighting may also experience food shortages. Farmers were preparing for a good harvest this year but many crops in the area were burned in the conflict. Last year's poor harvests in North Darfur have left people especially vulnerable.
"The world has moved on from this entrenched conflict and humanitarian work is already severely under-funded. We are struggling to meet already existing needs even as more are pushed into crisis,” Osman said. “This conflict in Darfur is now 10 years old and we need to see a renewed effort to bring about stability and peace in this devastated area.”
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working together in over 90 countries and with partners and allies around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.
]]>
The NRA and its allies have mounted a campaign of lies aimed at building opposition to the treaty, based on their distortion that the treaty would infringe on American Constitutional rights.
“Americans deserve the truth about the international gun trade – not NRA lies,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. “Our ad is part of a major campaign to debunk the paranoia that the NRA is spreading about the ATT. The ATT will provide a global solution to the rogue and illicit sale of weapons to war criminals, human rights abusers and violent extremists across the globe.”
The ad, which will run in Roll Call this week and CQ Weekly next week displays an image of a man holding a Kalashnikov rifle. The top line states, “The Arms Trade Treaty will not infringe on your right to bear arms…unless you are an international war criminal.” The ad copy continues, “Leaders of the NRA want you to be afraid. Don’t be fooled by their lies. The Arms Trade Treaty will prevent dangerous weapons from reaching the hands of war criminals, extremists and human rights abusers, but not affect your Second Amendment rights. Stand with truth and justice.”
In conjunction with the ad push, Oxfam America issued a briefing document, “The Truth about the Arms Trade Treaty: What the NRA isn’t telling you” to help Members of Congress and the public separate the facts from fiction.
“For too long, we have witnessed the civil unrest and horrific violence that the irresponsible arms trade creates," said Offenheiser. “Members of Congress should not let the false claims of the NRA frighten them from making the world a safer place.”
]]>The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved final regulations implementing Section 1504 or “Cardin-Lugar” provision last August. The law requires oil, gas and mining companies reporting to the SEC to disclose tax, royalty and other payments to governments in countries where they do business. In October, API, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Foreign Trade Council sued the SEC in an effort to overturn the statute and the final regulations.
“We are encouraged to see a major oil company with global operations in such places as Angola, China and the United States refusing to support a lawsuit based on unsubstantiated claims,” said Ian Gary, senior policy manager of Oxfam America’s oil, gas and mining program.
API’s members, such as Statoil, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhilips that have publicly supported anti-corruption and transparency measures in the past have been under pressure from campaigners to take a stand against the industry lawsuit. Statoil is the first oil company to come out publicly against the lawsuit to date.
"Statoil has not supported the lawsuit initiated by API; in fact, Statoil has explicitly withheld support for the litigation,” stated Baiba Rubesa, Statoil’s Vice President for Corporate Social Responsibility in a letter to anti-corruption campaigners Global Witness in London.
Statoil has been a leader in sector transparency, publicly disclosing payments in every country of operation since 2007, including in some countries where API has claimed disclosure is prohibited by law. In contrast to some claims made by API and other companies, Statoil says “such reporting is not an impediment for doing business, but has in fact been a competitive advantage for company.”
The letter follows three court briefs submitted last month to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by prominent Members of Congress, as well as Oxfam America, in response to API’s arguments. The briefs defend the law and highlight the lawsuit's frivolity.
“From Equatorial Guinea to the United States, the Cardin-Lugar provision sheds a powerful light on the murky world of financial flows between oil and mining companies and governments,” said Gary.
“Oil companies that don’t have anything to hide should follow Statoil’s lead and stand up for what’s right. If API’s overblown rhetoric regarding costs of compliance were true, Statoil would be using every available means to fight disclosure. Their rejection of API’s scorched earth legal approach reveals the emptiness of API’s claims.”
]]>Many food traders, who are predominantly Arabs or ethnic Tuareg, fled the area as French troops advanced. They were key suppliers of food, fuel and other goods sold in markets across northern Mali. These markets are rapidly running out of stocks of food and fuel – and much of what food was available has been looted. The traders have yet to return and many Arab and Tuareg refugees in neighboring countries tell Oxfam they fear that they would become subject to reprisal attacks if they do return.
“If traders do not come back soon and flows of food into northern Mali remain as limited as they are now, then it is likely that markets will not be properly stocked and prices will stay high – making it very difficult for people to get enough food to feed their families. These traders are critical for local economies – and these economies have already been enormously weakened by almost a year of crisis.
“This phase of the war may almost be over, but the battle to build peace and stability has only just begun. If people feel that their lives are at risk and that their families are not safe they will not return to Mali. It’s as simple as that,” said Philippe Conraud, Oxfam country director in Mali.
Food is already getting scarce in many markets in parts of the Gao region, where communities have been facing shortages since last year’s drought. According to recent assessments by Oxfam, food prices have risen by nearly 20 percent since foreign military intervention in Mali in January.
Conventional trade routes between northern Mali and the south, Niger and Algeria are severely restricted at the moment.
Oxfam is calling on both Malian and international forces to ensure the security and safety of all Malian people so that communities can put their lives together and the process of peace and reconciliation begins.
]]>“As a Boston-based organization with offices around the world, Oxfam America sends our heartfelt congratulations to Senator Kerry for his confirmation and we look forward to working with him towards a world free from poverty, hunger and injustice.
“America's foreign policy and development assistance are powerful tools for sharing America's values, fighting poverty, and advancing human dignity. The United States government cannot solve poverty or injustice on our own, but our nation can do much to encourage and support governments in developing countries to be more accountable to their people and meet their needs.
“To do so, America needs to invest in building strong, lasting partnerships directly with local citizens, governments, and entrepreneurs in developing countries. The Obama Administration’s 2010 Global Development Policy and related reforms have already put the United States government on this path. We trust that Secretary Kerry will continue to advance this effort towards more transparency, local engagement and investment.
“Under the leadership of Secretary Clinton, the State Department has been a strong promoter of increased revenue transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors in order to reduce corruption and monitor the use of billions of dollars in government revenues generated by these industries. We hope that Secretary Kerry will maintain US leadership on this critically-important priority and support the Securities and Exchange Commission as it defends landmark payment disclosure legislation.
“We also look forward to working with Secretary Kerry to address the impact of climate change on the global food system and vulnerable populations around the world. Secretary Kerry’s leadership on climate change in the Senate can provide a critically-needed jolt for action to address the causes and consequences of a warming planet.
“In a world where the massive and poorly regulated global trade in arms and ammunition continues to threaten the security and rights of millions of men, women and children, we urge Secretary Kerry to negotiate a strong UN Arms Trade Treaty at the UN in March. In order to be effective, it must include all conventional weapons and associated ammunition, and ban the transfer of arms that could be used for genocide, serious war crimes, or crimes against humanity.
“Most importantly, we stand behind Secretary Kerry as he will undoubtedly face humanitarian crises around the globe. During his confirmation hearing, he referenced the worsening insecurity and humanitarian situation in Darfur and the ongoing conflict in Sudan’s Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states. We hope that he will put his extensive experience with the Sudans, and his personal relationships with senior leadership of both countries, to good use and ensure the US plays a strong role in seeking humanitarian access and peace within and between Sudan and South Sudan.
“There is so much work to do. We at Oxfam hope for a productive relationship with the State Department under Secretary Kerry’s leadership, as we continue working to right the wrongs of social injustice and poverty in developing nations.”
/ENDS
]]>“We applaud the Council for recognizing that a truly comprehensive plan requires an integrated vision to leverage investments in ecosystem restoration to build more resilient communities and greater economic opportunity for the working families along the coast, many still impacted by the oil spill,” said Jeffrey Buchanan, Senior Domestic Policy Advisor at Oxfam America. “Gulf Coast communities are facing the inter-related reality of spiking poverty and enormous long-term ecological challenges, and the Council’s vision sets a path for creating new career pathways for struggling, hardworking families connected to projects addressing these environmental needs.”
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council was created under the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act, legislation signed by the President in July 2012, which will send up to $20 billion in civil fines under the Clean Water Act from the 2010 BP oil spill directly to the Gulf Coast states. The Council is tasked with developing a comprehensive plan to expend funds on critical coastal and marine restoration projects and guide the use of other resources.
“Instead of debating false choices that pit the economy against the environment, the Council is pointing towards a path to make things right in the community and in the environment,” said Patrick Barnes, President of BFA Environmental, a regional environmental engineering firm, and founder of Limitless Vistas, a nonprofit organization preparing New Orleans-area disadvantaged youth for environmental jobs. “We need an integrated comprehensive plan that restores the coast and ensures those projects promote training and real job opportunities to revitalize the local economy and the life of these coastal communities as they adapt to new challenges."
Ecosystem restoration projects create from 17 to 36 jobs for every one million dollars invested. This includes middle skilled, decent wage jobs -- like boat captains, pipefitters, welders, heavy equipment operators, construction inspectors and surveyors -- that low-skilled workers could obtain with access to additional skills training and on-the-job learning opportunities.
“Coastal restoration projects have the opportunity to wrap together both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum in the Gulf Coast as it relates to jobs,” said Elliott Bouillion, CEO of Resource Environmental Solutions (RES), a leading provider of wetland solutions based in Houston, TX and Baton Rouge, LA. RES operates Louisiana’s largest commercial native plant and coastal grass nursery in Pointe-aux-Chenes, LA. “Under the leadership of the Department of Commerce and the Gulf Coast states, this is a chance to put scientists and engineers to work together with construction and monitoring crews. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in the Gulf environmentally and economically."
In many coastal communities along the Gulf where livelihoods rely on a healthy marine ecosystem, individuals and families have been struggling to survive since the spill in 2010. According to the Census Bureau, coastal counties and parishes across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana (the states closest to the spill site) saw poverty rates jump by as much as 33 percent between 2009 and the most recent post-spill data in 2011.
“As our shrimp, crab and oyster fisheries continue to suffer the impacts from the BP spill, we have seen more and more fishermen fall on hard times, particularly in the Vietnamese community,” said Kaitlin Truong, Chair of Ocean Springs, MS based community development organization Asian Americans for Change. “We need to remember the people of the Gulf, and we look forward to the opportunity to engage the Council to ensure community input is heard as its starts to construct a regional restoration plan that repairs our natural resources and finds new ways to help the most impacted communities access new livelihood opportunities.”
“Through the years our company has seen how investing in the environment can mean jobs for workers and economic growth for local communities,” said Ashley Kerns, vice president of Westlake, LA-based Mike Hooks, Inc. a regional dredging and marine construction firm. “The industry is excited to work with Acting Secretary Blank, the Council, and the Gulf States to execute projects and help create new career opportunities for Gulf Coast workers -- jobs that in many cases, for those willing to work hard and stay with it, can provide working families with good wages and a shot at economic mobility.”
/ENDS
Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in 99 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice. Oxfam America is an affiliate of Oxfam. To join our efforts or learn more, go to www.oxfamamerica.org
]]>Food is getting scarce in many of the markets in parts of the Gao region of northern Mali and stocks are likely to end in few weeks, according to international humanitarian organization Oxfam.
Communities have been facing shortages since last year’s drought and conflict and will struggle to afford or even to find enough food to eat if the Algerian border and roads remain closed and the north remains inaccessible.
“Communities are effectively cut off and if the situation continues then food stocks in the area will only last few weeks. Things are set to get worse for people who cannot or do not wish to leave and have been living in incredibly tough circumstances for almost a year,” said Philippe Conraud, Oxfam Country Director in Mali.
The situation is acute in rural markets, in areas where people depend upon their livestock, and where a large part of Northern Mali’s population live. These markets, only supplied once a week, are no longer operating as usual and people are finding it difficult to sell their animals to get the cash they need.
Many traders have moved their remaining stocks from Gao to villages and communes outside of the town. Many have left Mali completely.
As current fighting moves north there is a growing fear that Gao will be the next center of conflict – forcing more people to flee their homes into areas where there will be limited access to food, drinking water and medical care.
They face a precarious future with few options of escape as the main public transportation services to the South and neighboring Niger has been suspended since the past 10 days.
“Most people left in the area are those who cannot afford to leave. If people are to receive urgently needed aid then humanitarian organizations need to be allowed into the conflict-affected zones. Borders with neighboring countries should be kept open and critical supply routes for food accessible. If help does not arrive soon then we may be seeing the start of a major humanitarian emergency,” added Mr. Conraud.