Hundreds of thousands of civilians risk being caught in crossfire as the offensive to retake Mosul and surrounding areas from ISIS intensifies, Oxfam said today. Families face a terrible choice between staying in ISIS controlled areas where many have reportedly suffered extreme violence and food shortages, or risking explosive devices and bullets to escape the […]
Food, shelter and clean water are needed urgently by people in southern Haiti following the destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew last week. Oxfam fears that the current death toll of at least 800 will increase further. The international community must act immediately to mitigate the loss of entire harvests and to counter any possible spikes […]
Oxfam teams are distributing aid in some of the worst-affected areas of Haiti as the scale of destruction left in the trail of Hurricane Matthew emerges. Oxfam Australia humanitarian response coordinator Richard Simpson said there was an urgent need for an international response in Haiti, where at at least 350,000 people had been left in […]
As the scale of devastation wrought by Hurricane Matthew in the Caribbean becomes apparent today, Oxfam staff in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic are preparing to do needs assessments and to respond if requested. Oxfam’s spokesman in the Haitian capital Port au Prince, Jean Claude Fignole, reported heavy rain, very strong winds and flooding. […]
Oxfam stands ready to respond to Category 4 Hurricane Matthew, should it be requested, as it bears down on the Caribbean. The hurricane is moving north very slowly at just 9 km/h and is predicted to pass just east of Jamaica before hitting both Haiti and Cuba. Oxfam Australia’s Humanitarian Manager Meg Quartermaine said Hurricane […]
Hurricane Matthew has now been declared a powerful Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. With winds over 225 km per hour, Matthew has already produced heavy rainfall on the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela, where a tropical storm warning has been released. It is expected that the hurricane will strengthen as it maintains its northern trajectory through the centre […]
The ongoing conflict with Boko Haram in West Africa has pushed the number of people facing the threat of severe hunger to more than 6 million according to the latest assessments, say 15 humanitarian organisations. The warning comes as governments and donors meet to talk about the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region […]
Oxfam has welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement in New York of further funding for refugees globally, but is concerned the increase to Australia’s humanitarian intake has not risen. Oxfam’s Chief Executive Dr Helen Szoke is disappointed there is no actual increase to Australia’s humanitarian intake. “Tony Abbott announced this increase from 13,750 to 18,750 refugees […]
The Australian Government has failed to make any announcement in support of refugees seeking safety just days out from two major meetings on the global migration crisis in New York, international aid agency Oxfam said today.
The nation’s leading humanitarian and human rights organisations are calling on the Australian Government to resettle the promised 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq by the first quarter of 2017. It’s a year today since the Government made the pledge to grant an additional 12,000 Syrians and Iraqis a permanent visa in response to an […]