Four ways to build youth activism for peace: insights from one UK student’s campaigning on Yemen

Yasmin Turner Active citizenship, Humanitarian, Influencing

Oxfam campaigner Yasmin Turner on how she is working to draw attention to the crisis in Yemen and pressure the UK government to stop the British arms sales fuelling the conflict – from hosting a photographic exhibition to writing to her local MP.

What do refugees from across Africa want to tell the global forum?

Abbas Kigozi Events, Participation and Leadership, Refugees and IDPs

Abbas Kigozi, Robert Hakiza and JeanPaul Kasika on priorities of refugees in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Malawi that need to be heard at this week’s gathering in Geneva – including access to basic services, secure legal status and protection against forced returns.

The unfolding water catastrophe in Gaza

Bushra Khalidi Conflict, Emergencies, Water

The current crisis comes on top of a long-standing struggle for water in Gaza – and demonstrates again how access to clean water is often one of the first casualties of conflict. Bushra Khalidi and Awssan Kamal set out six ways the destruction and obstruction of water supplies is having devastating short- and long-term impacts on civilians.

The rush for clean-energy minerals risks fuelling conflict in the Sahel – and that has to be on the climate agenda

Mohamadou Fadel Diop Climate Change, Conflict, Events

Mohamadou Fadel Diop on why climate negotiations such as the upcoming COP28 must pay attention to how the energy transition may drive further conflict and instability in West and Central Africa.

The messy realities of governance in conflict-affected areas: six dilemmas for development practice

Katrina Barnes Conflict, Governance, Research

Development projects too often assume there is a simple structure of local governance. But innovative research based on people in Mozambique, Myanmar, and Pakistan writing diaries reveals how in fact their lives are governed by many competing informal and formal actors. Katrina Barnes of Oxfam and Colin Anderson of the Institute of Development Studies on key dilemmas this complexity raises for practitioners

The UK is fuelling the war in Yemen, this can’t go on

Martin Butcher Conflict, Emergencies, Fragile contexts

In July, the UK Government announced the resumption of new arms licences to Saudi Arabia for weapons to be used in the Yemen war. This is despite Oxfam colleagues in Yemen reporting an increasing number of civilians, including women and children, being killed in the conflict.  We are asking the British public to call on the UK government to respect the International Humanitarian Law …

What does the UN Security Council Resolution on COVID-19 mean?

Pauline Chetcuti Conflict, Humanitarian

On July 1st, the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously backed U.N. chief Antonio Guterres’ March 23rd call for a global ceasefire amid the coronavirus pandemic. Resolution 2532 (2020) was finally adopted after more than three months of deadlock. Oxfam and our partners have campaigned for this resolution as a first step towards silencing the guns. The resolution drafted by France …

Civilians are not a target

Rachel Hastie Humanitarian, Protection

For World Humanitarian Day Rachel Hastie, Oxfam’s Global Protection Adviser, reflects on our common humanity and what it means. Some years back I was walking my children to school before catching a flight to Darfur. I was going to meet people – ordinary civilians – who had fled attacks on their villages and were still facing dangers and a very uncertain …

Women and transformative leadership

Veronica Rodriguez Jorge Conflict, Gender, General, Land rights

Verónica Rodríguez Jorge introduces us to Serapaz peace school in Chiapas, Mexico, and explains why women’s participation in conflict transformation is so vital. Las Cruces in Nayarit, Xochicuautla, Coyotepec San Felipe Magú in Mexico State, and Comcac in Sonora are just a few among the many communities in Mexico that are seeking to defend their land and rights through a …