New government ‘impartiality guidance’ advises teachers in England to provide ‘opposing views’ to campaigning movements such as Black Lives Matter – and to discourage students from taking any action that aims to change policy. John McLaverty and Safia Mizon Thioune set out their concerns
The UK is fuelling the war in Yemen, this can’t go on
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 …
In case you missed it – progress on tax justice!
On the face of it, this week may not appear to have been particularly auspicious for tax justice campaigners. The big story, about big money (thirteen billion euros), was that the European Court of Justice ruled that Apple does not have to pay that amount to the Irish government. It was not proven that the very low tax rates Apple had, were the …
How can the UK government justify arms sales that fuel the war in Yemen?
Laura Gyte describes why Oxfam intervened in a court case brought against the UK government over arms sales. UPDATE: on 20 June the Court of Appeal ruled that UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are unlawful. In April, the Court of Appeal heard a claim brought by Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) on whether the UK government’s decision to …
A twin mandate for DFID – what does this mean?
Oxfam’s policy team present their vision for the UK’s aid programme to tackle both poverty and inequality. The Shadow Secretary of State for International Development used her first major speech to announce that any future Labour government would instate a dual poverty/inequality mandate for the Department for International Development (DFID). Oxfam has long warned of the risks of growing extreme …