The report, "Investing for Life," looks at the world’s top 12 pharmaceutical companies, including their drug pricing policies, their record in developing medicines relevant to poorer countries and their stance on protecting intellectual property rights.
Oxfam says the industry is failing to ensure universal access to medicines because it refuses to put the issue at the heart of its business model. As a result, it is failing to capture the full potential of emerging markets touted as the "new frontier" for its business success.
According to a major consultancy firm, a loss of faith in the industry on the part of its investors has so far cost pharmaceutical's shareholders $1 trillion dollars.
“The industry is burying its head in the sand. More than 85% of world consumers are underserved or have no access to its medicines. The industry must recognise that charging high prices, quashing generic competition, developing medicines only for those rich enough to pay and fighting for harsher patent laws is an ineffective business strategy for new markets, as much as it is a moral outrage,” said Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International executive director.
“Investors are worried about the industry’s performance. They know that emerging markets are key for the industry’s future growth but companies have been responding to the challenge of breaking into emerging markets in an ad-hoc and inconsistent way. This is bad for the industry and bad for poor people who are still facing devastating diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, asthma, cancer, and HIV/AIDS without affordable medicines,” Hobbs said.
The report reveals shortcomings where the industry:
Oxfam notes that some companies are offering differentiated prices but this is extremely limited and mainly for high-profile diseases such as HIV and AIDS.
However, these offers are not systematic worldwide and are often still priced well above the means of people living in developing countries. Oxfam says that drug companies often adapt pricing in developing countries solely as a reflection of the publicity that surrounds the disease or the country.
For instance, Abbott Laboratories was selling Kaletra—a second line anti-retroviral medicine—at $2,200 per patient per year in low middle-income countries like Guatemala, where a person’s average wage is $2,400 a year. Only until Thailand, in response to the needs of poor HIV patients, issued a compulsory license to reduce the price of Kaletra to $1,000, did Abbott reduce the price of Kaletra worldwide to $1,000 per patient per year. Also in Thailand, French giant Sanofi-Aventis offered its cardiovascular disease medicine Plavix at a price that was 60 times more expensive than Emcure, the Indian generic version. In March 2007, it responded to Thailand’s use of compulsory licensing by offering a 70% cut.
Oxfam’s report says that companies are still not investing enough into researching and developing medicines for diseases that predominantly affect poor people in developing countries. Between 1999 and 2004, there were only three new innovative drugs targeted at diseases affecting the developing world out of 163 medicines brought to the market.
“Even people suffering from tuberculosis—which kills nearly two million people a year—need six months of treatment and the most recent medicine is 30 years old,” said Helena Vines-Fiestas, author of the report.
On the industry’s approach to intellectual property rights, Vines-Fiestas continued: “High levels of intellectual property protection have not resulted in new cures for diseases that affect poor people.”
Despite this, the report notes that the industry continues to insist that the global intellectual property regime does not prevent poor people from accessing affordable medicines. Oxfam says not only is the industry’s view narrow-minded and wrong, but that the evidence is overwhelming that generic competition is the most effective and proven method to reduce drug prices.
In recent years companies have mounted legal challenges or exerted direct pressure to protect their patents against the legitimate use of safeguards in Thailand, Brazil and India. “These challenges are made at the direct expense of poor people,” Oxfam said.
Pfizer even challenged the Philippines government over their use of public health safeguards in relation to the drug Norvasc.
“The industry is failing to make the systematic changes needed to serve developing country markets and meet its responsibility to make medicines universally available. Public pressure will intensify if companies continue to offer only patchy concessions, for example around high profile diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria,” said Vines-Fiestas.
The report concludes by arguing that companies will need to revamp their approaches on pricing structures, R&D investment and patent policies in order to serve these markets and make its medicines more accessible to poor people. Companies should adapt to the realities of developing country markets because up to 80 per cent of people in developing countries are vulnerable to falling or staying below the poverty line if they have to bear the cost of expensive medicines, particularly where treatment is long-term.
“The industry is operating in a short-sighted way because it could gain enormous benefits from emerging markets, including lower research and development costs and cheaper manufacturing. Yet instead it continues to blindly use its same strategies in poor countries. Even today, the richest 15% of the world consumes over 90% of its pharmaceuticals. At this rate, both the industry and millions of sick patients are losing out,” concluded Jeremy Hobbs.
]]>The modifications negotiated by the Democratic leadership after the agreement was signed and now included in the text take important steps toward making trade work for people living in poverty but remain insufficient to overcome the agreement’s adverse effects on development and poverty reduction in Peru, according to Oxfam. In its current form, this agreement still fails to address development needs as one of its core objectives.
“While trade could be an engine to pull millions out of poverty, this agreement will institutionalize an uneven playing field between the US and Peru,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "Although we appreciate the House leadership’s determination to make this agreement better, provisions on agriculture, investment and intellectual property still do not add up to a good deal for farmers, workers and consumers in Peru."
According to Oxfam and other civil society leaders, the agreement fails to take into account US agriculture subsidies, meaning that Peru's small farmers will face massive dumping of subsidized farm products on their market.
“By fully opening Peru’s markets to subsidized US agricultural products, this trade agreement will destroy our domestic agriculture, threaten our food security and increase social problems,” said Luis Zúñiga, president of the National Convention of Peruvian Agriculture (Conveagro). “Farmers’ demands for greater public investment in and modernization of the agricultural sector have gone unmet over many years, but now our needs will be far greater and the threat to our livelihoods far worse.”
The agreement makes it easier for foreign investors to operate in Peru, but it also leaves the government with a weakened ability to enact or enforce its own laws on public health, safety, and the environment. In addition, modifications made on intellectual property remain insufficient to enable Peru to promote access to affordable medicines for all.
“Oxfam welcomes the significant achievement by Congressional leaders to reduce the onerous requirements for intellectual property protections for pharmaceuticals in the agreement, as it will make a real difference in preserving access to affordable medicines, a critical need for the poor,” said Offenheiser. “But more is needed on the intellectual property front and others, to really turn this into a pro-development deal.”
Nearly half of Peru’s 28 million inhabitants live in poverty, the majority of them in rural areas. Agriculture is the main source of income in rural areas and generates nearly a third of all employment nationally. About 90 percent of land under cultivation is dedicated to basic crops that supply the domestic market, like rice, wheat, corn, barley, and cotton.
“The trade agreement’s adverse effects on Peruvians will outweigh its limited benefits, which will primarily accrue to a limited group of exporters, whose current duty-free access to the US under the Andean Trade Preferences Act will be made permanent, continued Offenheiser.
]]>Oxfam staff will evaluate the humanitarian needs, including water and health systems, and will consult with the Red Cross and Peruvian Government humanitarian response unit. Oxfam will then offer the appropriate level of humanitarian support.
Celia Aldana, spokesperson for Oxfam International in Peru said: "We are going to focus on the southern areas which are the most affected. It is really hard to tell what the full affect is, as communications are very patchy and many areas are cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges. The local media are reporting that many people are arriving in the cities from the countryside seeking help."
"I have lived through four earthquakes and can remember three of them but this has been the worst of all. The tremors lasted for minutes and were terrible. However, despite this, the damage in Lima doesn't at the moment appear to be too bad. The damage in the south is much worse"
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Statement from Oxfam America's Francisco Boeren, Deputy Director of Oxfam America's South America Regional Office in Lima.
LIMA — As aftershocks continued to hit the south of Peru, international aid agency Oxfam has arrived in the epicenter of the crisis to assess its emergency response, which will aim to provide urgent relief such as clean water for city-dwellers displaced by the earthquake and for those who are caught in remote rural areas.
Oxfam's humanitarian officer in Peru, Sergio Alvarez, today traveled to the worst hit zone, including the city of Pisco and the surrounding rural areas—which he reached on foot—and carried out an initial assessment of the devastation. More Oxfam staff including a water engineer will travel this afternoon to Pisco, a city of nearly 120,000 inhabitants. Some 665,000 people live in the wider affected region.
Alvarez said: "It is impossible to get to Pisco from Lima. The San Clemente Bridge that links Pisco with the Pan American highway has collapsed.
"All the adobe buildings in Pisco have collapsed. The modern buildings are fine. The Peruvian Civil Defense has told me that they calculate that at least 50% of the houses in Pisco have collapsed. San Andres, in Cañete, has also suffered a great amount of destruction.
"There are people trapped in their houses, and Pisco's San Clemente church collapsed while mass was underway. The news I'm receiving is that there are many dead bodies. Rescue operations are now underway but fire trucks and other rescue vehicles coming from Lima weren't able to reach the area until 11 am this morning due to the collapsed bridge. They were stuck about one and a half hours away from Pisco but are now in the area and have so far rescued six people trapped under rubble.
"Local authorities are asking for help, particularly with the distribution of medicines, tents and blankets, as many people have lost their homes. The distribution of tents has yet to be organized and there is no electricity or running water in the area. The situation is desperate, especially for those people who survived but who have lost their homes.
"Oxfam is especially worried about people in the rural areas because their houses are extremely vulnerable and they are harder to reach."
Oxfam works with partners in the area affected by the earthquake. In 2001, Oxfam responded to the earthquake in Arequipa, providing water and shelters.
The poorest areas are the ones that consistently suffer the most during and after a natural disaster. In Peru, more than 72% of those in rural areas are living below the poverty line. 49% of the general population lives below the poverty line and almost 32% of the population lives on less than $2 per day.
]]>“Wherever I went you could hear the sound of gun shots. There were armed men around every corner,” said Anderson. “I couldn’t understand how violence like that could be so routine.” Commenting on conversations he had with a local he was traveling with, Anderson noted, “to me it’s a disaster, to him, it’s life.”
In Kebkabiya, a small town that has seen its population swell to over 60,000 people after thousands settled there to escape attacks on their own villages, he spoke with young people, ranging in age from 14 to 20, who had been displaced from their homes and are living in temporary shelters. He asked them all the same question:
“If there was one thing you could ask Americans to help you with, what would it be?”
Anderson found that the responses varied little regardless of whom he asked. He heard two things consistently —the need for health care and technical training for jobs. The health care Anderson heard about is not what immediately comes to mind in the U.S.
“They need shovels to fill in holes and ditches in their schoolyards because during the rainy season, stagnant pools of water form and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes that carry infectious diseases like malaria. In addition, many of the young people in Darfur are looking for training in technical skills—things like carpentry and metalwork so they can get jobs and help to rebuild their communities,” said Anderson.
Also, he observed that young people did not have any way to become active participants and leaders in their communities, to have a voice in what was happening around them.
“For teens in the U.S, there are so many ways to connect with each other and get involved in things that matter to us. In Darfur, so many of the young people I met would love to go to school, but don’t because they can’t afford it, or because the roads to the schools are unsafe and they worry about what might happen to them if they try to get to class,” said Anderson. “For those who are able to go to school, that’s all they can do in a day. Once they return from class, they have to stay at home since they are not allowed to leave their homes after dark because of security concerns.”
Anderson approached Oxfam about going to Darfur after co-founding a successful national high school challenge to raise awareness and funds for Darfur by using the social networking site, Facebook. After helping to raise over $300,000, part of which helped to fund Oxfam’s relief effort in Darfur, he felt the next logical step was to see the region for himself and bring his experiences back to share with other teens.
“I feel it is my moral obligation to be a representative of my generation, and to show that we have a strong voice and can take positions on important issues playing out here in the U.S. and abroad,” Anderson concluded.
Oxfam took Anderson on in this ambassador role as a reflection of his contribution to raising awareness on the crisis in Darfur and recognition of the opportunity to involve and educate the next generation of leaders.
Oxfam is providing vital assistance on the ground to about 500,000 people affected by the crisis, both in Darfur and eastern Chad. In addition, access to clean, safe water and sanitation as well as basic necessities such as blankets, soap, and jerry cans for carrying water are provided. Oxfam also offers public health education programs to try and prevent the spread of disease; and, as the crisis continues, Oxfam is implementing projects to provide livelihood opportunities to help people find some alternative to the reliance on external aid.
In addition to its humanitarian relief efforts in Darfur, Oxfam is calling for a full and effective ceasefire by all the many parties of the conflict; better protection of civilians and aid workers, and improved humanitarian access so that aid agencies can reach those in need.
]]>UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet heads of state and other officials from more than 150 countries in New York on Sept 24 to build momentum for talks toward a new international climate agreement beginning in Bali this December.
Oxfam is concerned that climate change is increasing poverty and vulnerability among poor people who are least responsible for the problem and least able to bear its effects. The changes needed to tackle the causes and effects of climate change must be both adequate and fair to the world’s poorest people, Oxfam says.
Rich countries must make sharp and binding carbon reductions in a post-2012 deal, Oxfam says. There is widespread scientific consensus that the ramifications of global warming reaching above 2°C will be catastrophic, particularly for poorer countries.
“The significance of this meeting is that all countries are at the table, including developing countries that are in the front-line of climate change,” said Greg Puley, head of Oxfam’s New York office. “Rich countries must lead the way for a global binding deal at the UN on emissions reductions. They can build trust by providing the kind of support that the world’s poorest people need to prepare for the damaging impacts of climate change at least $50 billion or more a year,” he said.
“Rich countries have come up extremely short in providing finance for adaptation, despite being most responsible for the problem. Current pledges are less than 1% of what’s needed. At this meeting, they could start to set that right and make adaptation a central part of a future deal,” said Puley.
]]>The housing crisis on the Gulf Coast persists. Homeowners are still waiting for financial assistance sufficient to rebuild, repair or relocate their homes. At least 60,000 pre-disaster low-income renters remain displaced. In recent weeks, advocates from the Gulf Coast have been testifying at hearings, lobbying in Washington DC, and rallying their networks all over the country to shape and support this bill to ensure that it helps low-income communities.
“This bill is a critical step to making sure low-income survivors are no longer left behind in the recovery,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. “Reports are that ‘Katrina Fatigue’ is setting in on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers need to know that the continuing crisis in the Gulf Coast is not yesterday’s news, but a test of our commitment to address the needs of our most vulnerable citizens.”
Key measures in HR1227 include:
Oxfam America is collaborating with over 20 organizations in hurricane-impacted communities in Mississippi and Louisiana. In communities that have been bypassed by federal recovery dollars, our partner organizations are working with impacted families, volunteers and donated materials to help families get back into homes—and to advocate for a fair share of the funding.
]]>In a report, The UN Central Response Fund One Year On, launched on the emergency fund’s first anniversary, Oxfam shows its performance has been mixed. The report’s findings indicate that the emergency fund has increased humanitarian aid delivery for under-funded emergencies and in some cases aided more rapid response and; in others, payment of funds to agencies working on the ground were patchy and sluggish.
“The emergency fund has done some good work in a short space of time but a lot remains to be done in reaching its full potential during its second year,” said Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International’s Executive Director. “Improvements must be made if the world is to provide a truly rapid-response system to help the 46 million people whose lives are ripped apart by natural disasters and conflict every year.”
The emergency fund was created to increase aid agencies’ ability to deliver life-saving aid during the crucial first days of a crisis. Prior to the Fund’s launch last year, the humanitarian community, which depends on donor contributions, often had to wait weeks—or even months—before they could adequately respond to an emergency. In addition, the Fund is used by the aid community to assist vulnerable people affected by chronic ‘forgotten crises.’
However, Oxfam found that non-governmental organizations working on the ground need quicker access to the funds to make a greater impact in saving lives. Currently, the emergency fund’s money is first routed through other parts of the UN, adding an extra layer of administration, time and cost. Once the existing system is fine-tuned, the Fund’s budget will be ready to grow to $1bn, leading to even more timely and effective humanitarian response.
“The cost of increasing the CERF’s budget to an ideal of $1bn would cost each person in the world’s richest nations a mere $1.14 (58p). Those same countries spend an average of $857 (£440) per head on the military every year,” added Hobbs. “When a child is starving because of drought or left homeless because armed groups have swept through her village, she doesn’t have time to wait for the aid to arrive. Every day, every hour, every minute counts towards saving her life.”
Financial backing of the CERF was also mixed during its first year and is nearly $158m (£82m) short of its current target of $500m (£260m). Wealthy countries’ individual contributions to the Fund—or their 'fair share'—were determined based on respective gross national incomes. Oxfam applauded countries like United Kingdom and Norway; the UK contributed $83m (£43m) and Norway gave $57m (£27m)—nearly 14 times more than its fair share.
Yet some of the world’s wealthiest nations, including many oil producing states, have lagged far behind. France, the United States, Japan, and Germany have thus far failed to contribute their fair share. Were the US to play a full roll in the CERF it would cost $195m—less than the budget for the latest King Kong film.
In comparison, the US donated $10m (£5.2m) or 5% of its fair share to the emergency fund, while Japan gave $7.5m (£3.9m) or 10 % of what it should have. Neither country has yet pledged money this year. In 2007, France has so far donated $1.3m (£675,000) or just 4% of its fair share and Germany has contributed $6.7m (£3.5m) which translates to 16% of its portion.
In the report Oxfam also highlights the problem of donor nations diverting funds from other humanitarian programs to the emergency fund instead of contributing ‘new’ money in support of rapid response and forgotten crises.
“Shifting humanitarian funding from one pot to another does little to help the world better respond to crises. Filling up a new pot, which exclusively feeds and nourishes rapid response and life-threatening crises that fall outside of the world’s spotlight, does,” said Hobbs. “If there were more new money, quicker disbursement and closer cooperation on the ground, the emergency fund could and will significantly improve the way the world responds to natural disasters and conflicts.”
Oxfam said the emergency fund’s successes include:
To improve funding Oxfam recommends:
"Alternative gifts are in this Spring," said Stephanie Kurzina, vice president of fundraising for Oxfam America. "We've added wonderful items like fair trade honey and beaded jewelry—which are part of Oxfam's work. Whether you're looking for something different for Mom, Dad, the grad—or, for the couple who has it all, and would prefer that their wedding guests give a gift to help people in need."
Oxfam America Unwrapped, an online gift catalog, launched last fall with more than three dozen symbolic gifts —the proceeds of which support Oxfam's programs in 26 countries. Popular gifts from the Web site include a sheep, water jugs and the offer to "Plant 50 Trees." All gift contributions are general donations to Oxfam America and are fully tax deductible. Other great gift ideas:
Visit www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com to view all of the items available in the catalog.
]]>"The humanitarian need in Gereida remains enormous, and we have been extremely keen to return. It is with great regret that our security concerns have not been addressed, leaving us with no choice but to relocate our programs elsewhere. Since the attack, we have repeatedly stressed our desire to return to the town. But the local authorities have not lived up to their responsibility to ensure our staff can work safely. Despite our repeated requests, none of the perpetrators have been held to account, none of the assets stolen in the attack have been returned, and we have not received credible assurances that similar attacks would not take place if we did return," said Caroline Nursey, Oxfam's Sudan Programme Manager.
Gereida is under the control of the Minni Minnawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), a signatory to the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006. Since the signing of that agreement the situation in Darfur has deteriorated significantly.
"Without action and assurances from those in control, we cannot operate in areas that have proven to be so extremely unsafe for our staff. The international community needs to ensure that parties to the conflict in Darfur take their responsibilities under international humanitarian law seriously," said Nursey.
Oxfam has reached an agreement with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that it will take over maintenance of water and sanitation services on a long-term basis. However, Oxfam's important health education and livelihoods work in the town will cease after August. This work has helped prevent the spread of disease in the vast, crowded camp and also provided opportunities for people to improve their livelihoods and reduce their dependency on aid.
"As usual in Darfur, the people who will suffer most are the civilians who have already been attacked, forced from their homes and had their lives thrown into turmoil. For the last six months they have not had the level of assistance that they need," added Nursey.
The attack in Gereida on December 18th 2006 saw armed men raid the compounds of Oxfam and Action Against Hunger/Action Contre La Faim. 12 humanitarian vehicles were stolen, a female aid worker raped and an Oxfam staff member very badly beaten. Other aid workers were subjected to mock executions. Communications equipment and money were also taken. Oxfam staff were among 71 aid workers evacuated from the town as a result. Since then Oxfam has maintained some basic public health services through local staff in the town, but most operations have been suspended.
While the incident in Gereida was particularly serious, targeted attacks on aid workers have now become a daily occurrence in Darfur, gravely threatening the entire humanitarian response on which 4 million people depend. Aid agencies' ability to reach people in need has been greatly curtailed as a result.
Oxfam began working in Gereida in mid-2004 as people began to seek shelter there from attacks on villages in the surrounding area. In early 2006, work was scaled up considerably to respond to escalating violence, that in just four months more than tripled the population of the camp. Until mid-2006 Oxfam was one of only three agencies working in the town and provided tens of thousands of new arrivals with access to clean water, sanitation and other essential items such as blankets and shelter materials. By the time of the attack in December Oxfam was pumping 15 liters of water per person per day into the camp (more than 2 million liters in total) – compared to four liters per person per day just four months earlier.
Despite the withdrawal from Gereida, Oxfam is still assisting around 400,000 people affected by the Darfur-Chad crisis, by providing life-saving clean water, sanitation, health education and livelihoods work. It is now looking at new areas of South Darfur state in which to extend its work.
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The emergency response will center on remote communities around the River Coco, Bilwi, Sasha and Siuna areas. These areas are difficult to access and are mostly inhabited by indigenous Mayagnas and Misquitos Indians.
Teams arriving from Madrid this week will install three water tanks and immediately begin to distribute clean water to10,000 people daily.
"We are going into areas which are isolated and very difficult to reach," said Martha Lorena Mora the coordinator of the Oxfam International humanitarian team in Nicaragua. "It is clear that these communities have suffered a devastating impact."
The operation will be carried out in two phases. The first will be an emergency response, providing the basic necessities for the population, including water and sanitation (cleaning wells and treating water). During the second phase, Oxfam will develop a rehabilitation programme with the emphasis on food security.
Last week's heavy rains destroyed agricultural produce and contaminated wells. The loss of crops such as rice and maize means that communities will need to find alternative food supplies for the next few months.
"We will have to focus on providing the basics for the population until the end of the year. But we must also work to rehabilitate people's production capacity. These people need to grow crops again to be able to get back on track," said German Quezada, humanitarian officer for Oxfam in Nicaragua.
According to the latest information, nearly one hundred people have died and more than 100,000 people have been affected by the hurricane. This number is expected to rise over the next few days. This is the first time in history that two category five hurricanes (Dean and Felix) have hit the Atlantic coast in the same year.
In its humanitarian response, Oxfam is working with local organisations, and coordinating with the National Disaster Prevention and Response System (SINAPRED) under Nicaragua's Coordinator for Risk Prevention.
]]>At the end of 2004, Helen traveled again with Oxfam, this time to Northern Uganda. Here she was confronted by what the UN Security Council called the world's worst forgotten crisis in which half a million people have been killed and two million people displaced. She met children who had been kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army and forced to join thousands of others as child soldiers.
"I want to shine a search light on a part of the world people have ignored for too long" she said. "What I've seen here is the worst horror story you can imagine—a war that specifically targets children," said Mirren.
Helen continued to lobby hard on behalf of the Control Arms campaign and to highlight the situation in Northern Uganda. In 2006 the campaign won a huge victory with 153 countries backing the need for an international arms trade treaty. Helen was delighted with the success. The backing of so many countries around the world is a real step towards establishing an international arms trade treaty. Many people have worked tirelessly through Oxfam and the Control Arms campaign to make this happen and Helen Mirren's contribution cannot be underestimated.
Further information on Helen Mirren's work with Oxfam can be found online at www.oxfam.org.uk.
]]>Heavy rains are forecast to continue in the region this week, threatening to worsen the situation of up to 285,000 people living in vulnerable areas.
Oxfam will provide 14 tons of water, sanitation and hygiene equipment.
A plane will leave the East Midlands airport in the UK at 12 noon on Thursday 15 February and is expected to arrive in Beira, in Mozambique, on Friday, with enough equipment to provide for the needs of 25 000 people. Water pumps, water containers, pipes, water treatment chemicals, jerry cans for water collection, buckets, 1,000 bed nets and 2,000 hygiene kits will be on board.
“As flood levels keep rising our main concern is the lack of clean water and sanitation facilities in many of the evacuation centres where up to 70,000 people are taking shelter. In these conditions the threat of diarrhoea, malaria and cholera needs to be addressed immediately,” explained Fabio Fussi, head of Oxfam’s humanitarian response in Mozambique.
The floods along the river Zambezi have cut off many communities, making access difficult for government and humanitarian agencies. The most affected areas are the provinces of Tete, Sofala, Manica and Zambezia. Oxfam teams are now in Caia (6,500 displaced people) ready to start the installation of emergency water systems and sanitation facilities as soon as possible.
"There are 1,900 people living in this camp in very basic conditions. They are mainly women and children, who were evacuated by boat and couldn’t take much with them,” said Caroline Hooper Box, an Oxfam aid worker in the Chupanga evacuation camp.
“Many men have stayed behind to look after the livestock, but crops may be more difficult to save” Hooper Box added. “The maize fields we saw while driving here are flooded. We could only see the heads of the maize sticking out of the water.”
]]>Oxfam said that the U.S. is still paying billions of dollars of such subsidies to its cotton farmers, despite having lost a WTO case against Brazil in 2005, with no encouraging signs of reform coming from the U.S. Congress. There is little time for the U.S. Congress to make more meaningful reforms to agricultural subsidies in order to comply with international trade rules before facing possible retaliation from Brazil.
"This ruling reinforces the need for reductions in U.S. cotton subsidies in both the context of the Doha Round and the 2007 Farm Bill," said Isabel Mazzei, head of the Geneva office of Oxfam International. "The U.S. cannot continue to ignore the WTO and the effects of cotton subsidies on global markets and, ultimately, the livelihoods of poor farmers in the developing world."
In 2005, the WTO ruled that U.S. cotton subsidies violate WTO rules and gave the U.S. until September 2005 to reduce them. In response, the USDA agreed to reform export credit programs to comply with the ruling, and Congress eliminated the Step 2 cotton export subsidy program in 2006. But these programs represent only 10% of the overall cotton subsidy programs and some of the most trade distorting programs, like the counter cyclical payments were left untouched. In September 2006, Brazil asked for a WTO “compliance panel” to determine whether the US has done enough to comply with the ruling. Today, the WTO has confirmed that the U.S. has failed to reform its agricultural subsidies enough to comply.
“Not only did the House of Representatives completely ignore the WTO ruling in passing its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, but it elected to take the brazen step of reinstating subsidies for cotton that were eliminated by the previous Congress, parsing the language to try to slide the subsidy under the WTO screen," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "Indeed, the cotton lobby, representing about 20,000 mostly large producers, has continued to fare well at the expense of the American taxpayer and family farmers both here and in Africa.”
According to a recent study conducted by Dan Sumner and others at the University of California Davis for Oxfam, reforming U.S. cotton subsidies would increase world cotton prices by 6-14%, resulting in additional income that could feed an additional million children for a year or pay school fees for at least two million children living in extremely poor West African cotton growing households. A typical cotton-producing household in West Africa has about 10 family members, an average life expectancy of about 48 years and an adult literacy rate of less than 25 percent. Cotton is often the only source of cash income for these families who live on less than $1 a day per person.
"The House-passed Farm Bill will not pass muster with the WTO," said Offenheiser. "If the U.S. is unwilling to live up to its international trade commitments, how can it expect other nations to comply with the same rules? It is now up to the Senate to rally the political will to finally align our agricultural programs with these international rules."
]]>In a new report, “A Fragile Future,” Oxfam says that without a strong UN presence the Congo could see a return to widespread fighting which would undo the gains made in the historic 2006 elections.
The UN started renewing the mandate of its peacekeeping force (known as MONUC) on February 15 and the agency is urging the UN Security Council to keep MONUC at its current strength.
“Without a substantial and effective MONUC presence, the security situation – which is currently fairly stable – could soon unravel,” said Juliette Prodhan, head of Oxfam in the DRC. “This would be a disaster for the DRC and the wider region. MONUC has brought stability and security to large parts of the country and played an instrumental role in helping the Congolese people with the 2006 elections.
“This is a period of unprecedented opportunity for the DRC – but only if the international community makes the right choices in the next few months. MONUC’s existing resources in DRC are already overstretched. Cutting the current troop strength or resources would spell disaster for communities currently benefiting from MONUC protection,” said Prodhan.
“MONUC should stay at its current strength – at this stage anything else would amount to abandoning civilians in the DRC to a very frightening and uncertain future.”
Instead of looking at reducing troop numbers, Oxfam says the UN Security Council should use the mandate renewal process to improve MONUC’s operational effectiveness.
Peacekeepers’ priority should be protecting civilians, for example by increasing the number of night patrols. They should also establish overall security and humanitarian access in areas where displaced populations are returning to their villages of origin.
Oxfam says MONUC’s long-term exit strategy should be linked to reform of the DRC’s army and police. The DRC’s security sector does not currently have the capacity to protect the civilian population from militia warlords, foreign rebels or local defence forces; only when they are better able to protect civilians should the UN consider reducing the number of MONUC troops.