Author: Oxfam Media Unit

Kate Wareing, Oxfam’s Director of UK poverty said.

“Iain Duncan Smith has today outlined plans to help move people off welfare and into work and we broadly welcome this new approach to make the system fairer.

“Work should never be seen as a punishment and those on benefits should not be forced to work for less than the minimum wage. The assumption that people don’t want to work is simply not true. Our experience is that people on benefits do want to work, and a big part of what holds them back is the benefit system.

“It is vital that people are always better off in work. Currently, many of those people who are in the transition between benefits and employment can end up keeping less than 10p for every pound they earn.

“Those actively seeking employment, whether that be temporary or part-time, should never be penalised; if someone on benefits earns a pound then we should reward that initiative, rather than taking away what they have earned as if it was the wrong thing to do.

“People should be allowed to do small amounts of community work, without losing their benefits. If the government implemented a Community Allowance it would allow community organisations to pay local unemployed people to do the bits and pieces of work that desperately need doing within their communities. For every £1 invested in the Community Allowance, £10.20 worth of social value is created – that’s because the work has immense community and social value, improving facilities and the local environment, which aren’t usually measured in conventional economic terms.”

/Ends

For more information or to interview Kate Wareing please contact Sarah Dransfield, Oxfam Press Officer on 01865 472269 or [email protected]

(May 25th 2010) The international community must pledge financial support to rebuild the lives of those affected by Cyclone Aila, which hit Bangladesh a year ago, says Oxfam. With the threat of an impending monsoon, communities are still waiting for damaged embankments to be rebuilt so that they can return to their homes.

When Cyclone Aila swept across areas of southern Bangladesh and eastern India on 25 May 2009, it caused widespread damage and affected around three million people. In southern Bangladesh, the cyclone caused a tidal surge which broke through poorly maintained coastal embankments. In south western districts, especially in Shatkhira and Kulna, people living in the coastal villages were forced to flee to raised embankments as houses and crops became submerged under water.

Gareth Price Jones, the Country Director of Oxfam in Bangladesh said, “It is unfortunate to see that the international community did not fulfil their pledge to provide 1.15 billion U.S. dollars to rehabilitate cyclone Aila victims.

Today in the Shatkhira and Khulna districts only 45km of the 729km of damaged embankments have been reconstructed so far. People cannot return to their homesteads, as different points of breached embankments have not yet been repaired, due to inadequate resources and a lack of action. *

Over the last year Oxfam has continued to lobby the local and national government to take immediate steps to reconstruct damaged embankments to protect communities and their land from saline water.

While more than 100,000 people have fled to other parts of the country since the cyclone struck, some 125,000 people are still living in makeshift shelters on the embankments, struggling with basic needs such as shelter, clean drinking water and food. *

‘One year after cyclone Aila and I am still living on the embankments. Nothing has changed in my life, things have got worse. I need pure drinking water, a house and the means to make a living,” said Shorbanu Khatun, a resident of Shatkhira.

More than three million people have been suffering due to a lack of clean drinking water since the cyclone. Only 5-7 percent of the population in the area are living where tube-wells have been installed. The average distance for others to fetch drinking water is about 4 km. *

Oxfam has so far provided 12,000 families with 1.5 millions litres of safe drinking water as well as over 9000 families with shelter. It has also provided sanitation and a means of making a living to many families.

Around 60 percent of government schools in the affected areas are still inaccessible due to water logging or due to the lack of infrastructure. Many children cannot attend school, especially girls due to inadequate sanitation facilities.

With an impending monsoon the situation can only worsen unless the international community makes immediate arrangements to help people to cope and have access to food, shelter, safe drinking water and sanitation. Further delay will only increase the suffering of those affected.
Oxfam is also lobbying the Bangladesh government and international community for longer-term initiatives to rebuild the affected areas and help communities be better prepared for future disasters.

ENDS

Note to Editors

* According to the latest assessment by an alliance of INGOs involved in the response to cyclone Aila.

For further information or to arrange an interview contact Jonaid Jilani, +44 (0) 1865 181514 / +44  (0) 7810 181514 / [email protected]

Photos and caption can be found at

http://wordsandpictures.oxfam.org.uk/?c=6845&k=6423dedbd2

Parvez , a Bangladeshi singer’s call to help those affected by cyclone Aila.

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/southasia/?p=154

Responding to the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition’s Programme for Government, Kirsty Hughes, Oxfam Head of Policy, said:

Robin Hood Tax 

“The promise to tax banks is welcome. But the new government has not yet caught up with the public’s desire to see banks pay back the true cost of the economic crisis and protect poor people at home and abroad.

“A levy is not a Robin Hood tax – it is not even as ambitious as the IMF’s proposal for a FAT tax on banks. With the new government strapped for cash, a Robin Hood Tax could help prevent damaging spending cuts and provide much needed funds to tackle climate change.”

Climate change

“Oxfam welcomes the new government’s commitment to tackling global warming, but the fight against climate change is one that the UK cannot win alone. A global deal needs to be fair if it is to be workable.

“David Cameron and Nick Clegg should take the earliest opportunity to make clear that funds provided by the UK to help poor counties cope with climate change will be additional to aid promises.”

Aid

“David Cameron and Nick Clegg pledge to enshrine the UK’s aid promises in law shows the UK’s commitment to helping the world’s poorest in difficult economic times.

“Oxfam is delighted that the Department for International Development will remain independent. Keeping poverty reduction as its primary focus – rather than national security or short term national interest – is the best way to achieve value for money for the British taxpayer.”

With all eyes on Africa for the world’s biggest football tournament next month, Oxfam is today launching Don’t Drop the Ball on Aid, a global game of keepy uppy that will link fans worldwide in an amazing video chain.

Football connects people all around the globe and Oxfam is looking to turn that passion into something genuinely world-changing by asking fans to upload a video of their tricks to the website, www.dontdropaid.org.

The campaign calls on governments not to drop the ball on overseas aid, which helps to pay for kids to go to school and for medicines and bednets that save the lives of millions of people who would otherwise die from HIV or malaria.

For added inspiration, the campaign will launch with a video featuring UK freestyle football champion John Whetton and Harry Hardy, the country’s oldest referee, age 83, showing off their keepy uppy skills. John said: “It doesn’t matter if you can do one kick up or 100, it’s about having a bit of a kick about and supporting a good cause.”

Charles Bambara, a former player in the Burkina Faso premier league who works for Oxfam in West Africa, said: “Across the continent, from Algeria to Zambia, football brings a massive ray of hope to people’s lives.

“We want to tap into all of that energy to say: don’t drop the ball, don’t loose sight of the goal, which is to end poverty and make life better for the world’s poorest people.”

The launch of the action comes on the day Oxfam releases a new report, 21^st Century Aid, which says that although aid has its faults, it has made a massive difference to the lives of millions of poor people in Africa and beyond. Mozambique – which was the poorest country in the world just 20 years ago – has increased its spending on health care by over half, and in the past decade the number of children who die before their fifth birthday has been reduced by almost 20 per cent.

Oxfam’s report argues that whilst some money is lost through corruption, rather than cutting aid, it should be used to help reduce corruption and give ordinary people the ability to hold their own government to account. The rise in scepticism towards aid is giving some rich countries an easy way out of meeting aid commitments, which were originally made 40 years ago  – in the same year England defended its World Cup title.

/Ends

A range of materials including photos and case studies are available to download at: http://drop.io/21stcenturyaid

Login password: oxfamaid

For more information, a copy of the launch video or a copy of the report: 21^st Century Aid, please contact: Sarah Dransfield, Oxfam Press Officer, on 01865 472269, 07767 085636 or [email protected]

Overseas aid has its faults but it has helped transform the lives of millions of poor people in Africa and beyond, an Oxfam report published today said.

21^st Century Aid, Oxfam’s answer to recent attacks on development aid, sets out how aid contributes to economic growth by improving health services, giving millions more children an education and supporting poor people’s livelihoods.

Aid has helped to:

– Reduce the number of children who die before their fifth birthday by 4 million since 1990

– Put 33 million more children in the classroom

– Increased tenfold the number of people receiving HIV medication

Sweeping dismissals of aid are dangerous and risk cuts in support that is a lifeline to millions, the agency said. And calls for aid to be more closely linked to the national interest of donors risk reducing its effectiveness in tackling poverty.

Oxfam acknowledges that some aid money is misspent, but argues this a reason to improve aid, not reduce it. Aid itself can and does play a key role in fighting corruption, paying the salaries of policemen and judges in Africa, strengthening the free press and helping ordinary people in poor countries to hold their governments to account.

The agency warns that in the current economic climate, governments may use these sweeping criticisms as cover for not delivering promised aid increases, jeopardising key commitments such as ensuring every mother and child has access to free health care.

Desmond Tutu said: “This report is a timely reminder that aid has transformed the lives of millions of people around the world – giving them access to life-saving healthcare and their children chance to attend school. Aid critics who ignore the benefits aid brings are at best misguided and at worst putting ideology ahead of real improvements in the lives of poor men women and children.”

Phil Bloomer, Oxfam Campaigns and Policy Director, said: “Thoughtful criticism continues to play a vital part in improving aid and addressing its weaknesses but too many of the recent attacks have been ill-informed, ideological and ultimately irresponsible. We need a grown up debate that recognises the many successes of aid as well as the isolated and high profile failures.

“Helping people in some of the most dangerous and deprived countries of the world is a risky business, but the returns are huge, not only in lives saved but in the huge number changed for the better.

“Arguing that aid should be cut because some is misspent is like arguing that the NHS budget should be slashed because of waste found at a few hospitals. Ordinary people rely on the services that our aid buys; they should not be made to pay the price for corruption in the corridors of power.

“Aid has funded tens of millions of free bed nets over the past five years, restricting the spread of malaria which costs the African economy £12bn each year.

“21^st century aid should not be a casualty of corruption, but instead a tool to fix it by strengthening ordinary people’s ability to hold their own governments to account.

“Poor people need aid more than ever to help them weather the economic crisis and climate change. Rich countries need to deliver on their promises.”

The report also calls on politicians to resist calls to tie aid spending more closely to issues of ‘national interest’ as this reduces its effectiveness in tackling poverty and has in the past led to abuses such as the £234 million given to the Malaysian Pergau dam project in the 1990s – a project that had no economic or humanitarian benefit.

Bloomer said: “Far from tackling corruption, the suggestion that aid should be tied to British national interests would ensure that significant amounts of the UK’s overseas aid would not reach those who need it most.”

Oxfam tackles head on the arguments of some critics that aid could be replaced by money raised on capital markets, increased trade or domestic taxation.

Bloomer said: “I dream of a world where aid is no longer needed but today’s reality is very different. Poor countries suffer from unfair trade rules that restrict their ability to grow and lose billions of pounds every year to off-shore tax havens tolerated by rich nations.

“The recent economic crisis and past debt crises show the folly of poor countries relying on international capital markets to fund vital public services. If Greece can be destabilized by global financial markets, then what chance does Gabon have?”

 /Ends

Further information, to request a copy of the report or to arrange an interview:

Jon Slater 01865 472249/07876 476403/

[email protected]

Sarah Dransfield 01865 472269/07767 085636

[email protected]

Notes to editors

: The past 18 months have seen a surge in criticism of development aid that threatens to undermine public and official support. Prominent critics have included: Dambisa Moyo, the International Policy Network and media commentators.

One of the world’s leading football clubs has teamed up with Oxfam to hold coaching clinics for young people in South Africa.

The Liverpool delegation will be coaching football skills to hundreds of young people from townships near Johannesburg and Pretoria. At the same time Oxfam and its partner ‘Fair Play for Africa’ will be raising awareness of the health issues facing millions of people in Africa every day.

Bill Bygroves of the Liverpool Football Club Community Department said: “Liverpool FC engages in many different community, education and health programmes in and around Merseyside.

“Oxfam and ‘Fair Play for Africa’ invited us to engage with young people around Johannesburg and Pretoria through the medium of football and at the same time assist in their campaign. We are really pleased to be of help.”

Oxfam campaigns to get more children into schools around the world and fight for better access to health care for the world’s poorest people. In Africa, Oxfam works with ‘Fair Play for Africa’ encouraging African governments to keep the promises made on universal health care, HIV and Aids.

Pooven Moodley, Oxfam South African Campaigns manager said: “Oxfam is very excited about this visit, it will reach out to hundreds of young people.”

/Ends

For more information please contact: Serena Tramonti in South Africa on 0027 796384106, [email protected]

Notes to editors:

The Liverpool delegation will be in South Africa between the 19 ^th – 23 ^rd May.

Fair Play for Africa is an alliance of 200 organisations from 10 African countries. For more information visit, www.fairplayforafrica.org

Oxfam climate change campaigner Charlie Powell explains what’s needed to ensure a positive outcome from the ongoing international climate negotiations, especially for women who are hit hardest by the effects of climate change.

The Copenhagen summit was a major disappointment – there’s no denying it. A historic opportunity to build a better future for us all, especially for poor communities, was shamefully missed.

Lots of people were left wondering “where next?”. In this video, we attempt to answer that question. Oxfam’s Charlie Powell reviews the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit, and what Oxfam is pushing for on emissions cuts and climate adaptation finance. Charlie outlines how we’re continuing to pile the pressure on throughout 2010 – and how you can get involved.

Get involved: Oxfam’s climate change campaign

Small-scale farmers and pastoralists in Ethiopia are likely to bear the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change in the region, which will include increased poverty, water scarcity, and food insecurity, according to a new Oxfam report released today.

The international development agency’s report, “The Rain Doesn’t Come on Time Anymore:  Poverty, Vulnerability, and Climate Variability in Ethiopia”, was launched at a special Earth Day celebration organised by the Climate Change Forum-Ethiopia in collaboration with other environmental organisations.   While Ethiopia has always suffered from great climatic variability, including droughts that have contributed to hunger and even famine in the past, the report details how climate change is set to make the lives of the poorest even harder.

“People who are already poor and marginalised are struggling to cope with the added burden of increasingly unpredictable weather,” said Abera Tola, Oxfam’s Horn of Africa regional director. “It is getting harder and harder for families and communities to bounce back from ever-changing, inconsistent weather affecting their livelihoods, and many have been forced to sell livestock or remove children from school – coping mechanisms that only increase the cycle of vulnerability.”

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and eighty-five percent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. The agricultural sector is especially vulnerable to the adversities of weather and climate since it is rain fed, done using relatively basic technologies, and on tiny plots of land.

“From the Rift Valley to Tigray, farmers and pastoralists around the country have shared with us the toll that the changing weather is having on their communities, from ruined crops to dying cattle,” said Tola. “Even relatively small shifts in the growing season, can spell disaster for the poorest farmers and pastoralists who are already struggling in poverty.”

Women and girls in particular are disproportionately affected by climate variability. In times of crisis, women tend to stay home with their children, while men move away to look for alternative means of survival. Women also have fewer options to find other ways of making a living, especially since women’s literacy rate is not even half of that of men. Women are also not given a say in household decisions and are frequently without cash savings or assets to sell to buy food and other basic items.

“The rain doesn’t come on time anymore. After we plant, the rain stops just as our crops start to grow. And it begins to rain after the crops have already been ruined,” Sefya Funge, a farmer in Adamitullu Jiddo Kombolcha district in Ethiopia told Oxfam. “Because of a lack of feed and water, most of my cattle have died. The few that survived had to be sold so that we could buy food to live on. As I no longer have the means to support my family, only three of my eight kids are still with me. Losing our assets was bad, but the fact that our family is separated is devastating.”

With some assistance from non-governmental organisations and the government, small-scale farmers and pastoralists are adopting a variety of coping mechanisms, according to the report. In the farming areas, many are shifting to more drought tolerant crops and varieties, improved forest management practices, diversified energy sources, and alternative means of income from off-farm activities. Pastoralists have also divided pasture into wet and dry season grazing areas to better manage risk, while others have changed the composition of their heard from cattle to camels and goats, which can better tolerate dry, hot weather.

Poverty, limited resources, little alternative sources of income and livelihoods, lack of knowledge and expertise, and the absence of appropriate public policies and financing, increase vulnerability and decrease people’s capacity to cope.

Oxfam has made several recommendations – at the national, regional and community level – for the development of a holistic approach to increase resilience, so communities can bounce back from climatic shocks quicker.

Recommendations at the national level include:

• Prepare and implement a national framework for guiding climate change adaptation and mitigation, . building on the National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) and integrated with the Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP)
• Investing in agricultural research on the use of new crop varieties and livestock species that are more tolerant to drought.
• Ensuring civil society and community participation, especially women’s groups, both in formulating climate change policies and in integrating climate change into development priorities.
• Ensuring priorities and investments address the gendered impact of climate change.
• Strengthen cooperation among policymakers, nongovernmental organisations, research institutions, and the media.

Recommendations at the community level include:

• Investing in livelihood opportunities and risk management strategies for poor farmers and pastoralists, particularly women.
• Investing and improving agriculture extension services
• Preparing long-term adaptation plans based on the sharing of best practices through community participation, civil society engagement, and the participation of academic and research institutions, with regular monitoring to identify promising practices for scaling up.
• Building on what farmers and pastoralists are already doing to adapt to climate variability and change. Investigate these practices further for their sustainability and impact on poverty and inequality, and potential for replication or enhancement.
• Investing in new forestation programs, reforestation, and sustainable management of the remaining forests. Ensure that management systems guarantee a return to the communities that manage the resource-the only way to ensure genuinely sustainable use of forests and woodland.
• Investing in community environmental and drought monitoring systems and improve community disaster risk reduction capacity.
• Increasing use of renewable energy such as solar energy and promoting photovoltaic technology.

Oxfam has also asserted that developed countries have the responsibility to not only reduce emissions that cause climate change, but also help Ethiopia adapt to climate change impacts that will still affect the poorest, no matter how fast we reduce emissions.

“Climate change is impacting the poorest first, despite the fact that they didn’t contribute to the crisis,” said Tola. “As global climate change negotiations continue, world leaders must not forget the fact that poor people are dealing with the negative impacts of a changing climate every day.”

/ENDS

A second Oxfam relief team has arrived in Qinghai and has delivered supplies to 2,000 earthquake survivors.

“People in remote areas are in urgent need of supplies according to the local government. Oxfam teams are providing blankets and other aid to 2,000 people in three of the outer lying towns. All are at high altitude,” said Aman Yee, Deputy Programme Manager of the Rural Development and Disaster Management Team of Oxfam Hong Kong.

“The sanitation is deteriorating in the temporary camp set up in the town of Jiegu. People have to defecate in the open, litter is piling up, and there is a real risk of disease. To help reduce the risk Oxfam will be helping with public hygiene information campaigns,” said Yee.

In addition to its aid that has already arrived, Oxfam will be flying in 600 tents which are expected to arrive in the remote affected areas later today (19 April).

International agency Oxfam said on Saturday (17 April 2010) that its first team of aid experts had arrived in the town of Jiegu, in Yushu County of Qinghai, the region most seriously hit by the China Earthquake.

The team is now working in a temporary camp set up on a racecourse in Jiegu and distributing blankets for 2,000 survivors. About 20,000 people are living in this camp.

“The temperature here during the daytime is around 10 degrees Celsius; at night, it drops to below zero. The freezing weather is a huge challenge for the people made homeless by the earthquake, including people living in the camp in Jiegu. Oxfam is working with the local government to address people’s urgent needs; the government is providing food and tents,” said Aman Yee, Deputy Programme Manager of the Rural Development and Disaster Management Team of Oxfam Hong Kong.

“Qinghai is one of China’s poorest provinces. Poverty is the key reason why people are vulnerable to disasters. Oxfam is liaising with local government units to plan the next step; we target to assist the most impoverished people in this crisis,” Aman Yee added.

Oxfam will fly blankets from Yunnan to Qinghai. Sichuan Airlines is providing free transportation. Oxfam’s first priority for shipment is 1,000 blankets; next will be 600 tents.

Another Oxfam team is on its way to Shiqu County, Sichuan Province, which was also hit by the earthquake; the team will distribute 1,000 blankets and 1,000 rolls of durable waterproof fabric as temporary shelter.

Oxfam has assisted in previous emergencies in Qinghai, such as the massive snowstorms in 1997 and 2008.

Oxfam has an initial plans to spend HK$2 million (£170,000) on relief and rehabilitation projects.

International agency Oxfam has sent out two teams of aid experts to earthquake hit Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. The teams have been sent from the agency’s offices in Lanzhou and Chengdu in Sichuan and the neighbouring province of Gansu.

The teams will be distributing 2,000 blankets and 2,000 rolls of plastic sheeting for emergency shelter in Yushu County and Shiqu County in Sichuan. Some 600 tents will also be sent to the disaster area.

“Qinghai is one of China’s poorest provinces. Poverty is the key reason why people are vulnerable to disasters and more likely to suffer during such events. To make matters worse, the high altitude and thin air of Yushu County has made rescue work difficult.

“The biting cold weather has also posed huge challenges. During this season, the temperature could drop to below zero. Oxfam has prioritised sending blankets and emergency shelter for the survivors,” said Wei Mingtao of Oxfam Hong Kong.

Party leaders are expected to make Sunday April 18, this election campaign’s ‘World Poverty Day’ by setting out their parties’ plans to help the world’s poorest people.

Barbara Stocking, Oxfam Chief Executive, said: “In the understandable desire to focus on challenges facing us here in the UK, it is vitally important poor people around the world do not become the forgotten faces of this election.

“Every year, millions of children around the world die unnecessarily and 1.4 billion people – almost triple the entire population of the European Union – live on less than 75p-a-day.

“Britain has been playing a leading role in tackling these problems and I am delighted that all parties are commmited to meeting the UK’s aid promises. It is vital that whichever party wins the next election ensures that Britain continues to lead the world in the face of the fresh challenges posed by the economic crisis and climate change.

“A Robin Hood Tax on banks’ financial transactions would raise the hundreds of billions of pounds needed to tackle these problems without hurting ordinary people.”

Lucy Brinicombe: 07786 110054

Jon Slater: 07876 476403

An incredible discovery in an Oxfam bookshop has raised more than £37,000 at auction for the charity this week – the most Oxfam has ever made from a single book donation, or from any item donated through an Oxfam shop sold at auction.

A photograph from the book that raised £37,000

The book, A Trip To The Highlands of Viti Levu, is a photo documentary of two scientists’ quest to find their long-lost brother in Fiji in 1881. Written by Gerard Ansdell, it consists of 44 remarkable portraits of Fijians, and was self-published in 1882.

Auctioned at Bonhams in London this week, the book raised 23,000 times more than the average selling price for a book in an Oxfam shop, and the £37,200 total would be enough to buy 1,500 goats, feed 5,300 families or provide safe water for 41,000 people.

The book was donated by an anonymous retired man to the Teignmouth Oxfam bookshop in Devon in late 2009, who brought in a selection of rare books which were immediately recognised as valuable by its staff.

Only a few copies of this book were ever made, and only one other copy has ever appeared at auction, in Australia in 1977.

In 1881 Gerrard Ansdell and his brother, scientists from the Royal Society of London, set out in search of an older brother thought to be coffee planting in Fiji. He was eventually tracked down in Viti Levu, but Gerrard and his brother carefully documented everything from their trip to create this important historical record.

Suzy Alder, books project manager at Oxfam, said:

“This was an unprecedented discovery, but it shows that our bookshops are great places to find all kinds of hidden treasures sitting alongside the racks of bestsellers. This amazing result reflects the ongoing commitment made by our fantastic shop staff, volunteers and support teams nationwide to ensure that we make the most of every donation that comes in.

We greatly appreciate the donations made to our shops daily across the country, and in this case, the generosity of someone whose single item has raised enough money to help tens of thousands of people living in poverty.”

“Book sales have been helping us in our fight against poverty for more than fifty years, as we’ve sold everything from the first ever Sherlock Holmes story to the latest Harry Potter novel, and this incredible book will make a significant contribution to changing lives around the world.”

Until this week, the most Oxfam had raised from a single book was £18,000, for a 17^th century economic treatise in 2005, and also for a rare Graham Greene book in 2008. Both books were sold at auction*.

Bonhams spokesperson Andrew Currie said:

“This is a scarce and important book in excellent condition and we’re really pleased that it proved so popular with bidders and that Oxfam has been able to raise so much money for its work.”

• Oxfam is Europe’s biggest retailer of second-hand books and the third biggest book-retailer in the UK.
• Oxfam sells books in nearly all its shops and now has more than 130 specialist bookshops, including the Teignmouth shop.
• The first bookshop was opened in St Giles, Oxford, in 1987.
• Oxfam raises about £1.6 million through book sales each month.
• The average price of a second hand book from an Oxfam shop is £1.60.
• Volunteers in the Harrogate shop spotted the very first appearance in print of Sherlock Holmes (‘A Study in Scarlet’) in a Victorian annual- it was auctioned for £15,500.
• Oxfam ran its first annual Bookfest in 2009, featuring more than 250 events nationwide and celebrity support from the likes of Bill Nighy, Monica Ali, Joanna Trollope and Alexei Sayle. In the month following Bookfest, revenue from books went up by 24% across the Oxfam shop network and donations of books increased by 40%.

– Ends –

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Stuart Fowkes

Oxfam press office

01865 472254 / 07818 406038 / [email protected]

Notes to editors

* More information about the books: first edition of Treatise of Commerce by John Wheeler, 1601, was donated to the Oxfam shop in Gold Street, Northampton. The book, published in 1601 and believed to be the only one in existence, went to an anonymous buyer. It actually sold for £21,600 but we got £18,000 after auction fees.

The Graham Greene book was an early novel, Rumour at Nightfall, which Greene suppressed because he thought it was terrible. It was donated to our St Giles bookshop in Oxford and volunteer Andrew Chapman, an airline pilot, recognised it could be valuable.

The catalogue description of the book is:

‘ANSDELL (GERRARD) A Trip to the Highlands of Viti Levu; being a description of a series of Photographic Views taken in the Fiji Islands during the dry season of 1881, 44 large albumen prints (numbered 1-45, the place for No. 20 instead printed in red “Negative unfortunately broken”, publisher’s olivine cloth with device of clubs in gilt on upper cover, metal clasps each wanting a pin, 4to, H. Blair Ansdell, 1882.’

International agency Oxfam is preparing to send blankets and water proof sheeting as part of a £170,000 aid package to the earthquake hit area of Yushu County of south-eastern Qinghai Province in northwest China.

The supplies will be sent from Oxfam’s stock held in warehouses in neighbouring Chengdu in Sichuan Province, and Lanzhou in Gansu Province The agency has offices in both cities. Qinghai borders Sichuan and Gansu, and the epicentre was near the south-eastern border.

Oxfam is in contact with the local government of Qinghai and local non-governmental organisations assessing how it can best help.

“The freezing weather is a great challenge to survivors of the earthquake, many of whom are impoverished. Night-time temperatures are dropping to zero Celsius. Oxfam is planning to deliver thick blankets and water-proof sheeting to people whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by the earthquake,” said John Sayer, Director General of Oxfam Hong Kong.

An earthquake of a 7.1 magnitude hit Yushu County of south-eastern Qinghai Province at 07:49 am local time on Wednesday, 14 April, followed by a series of aftershocks. Official reports indicate that 617 people have been killed, 9,110 injured, and 313 people remain missing. The earthquake toppled 15,000 residential buildings, making about 100,000 people, mostly poor people, homeless.

Oxfam has previously assisted people in Qinghai in massive snowstorms in 1997 and again in 2008.

Oxfam Hong Kong is a non-governmental organisation based in Hong Kong and part of Oxfam International, a confederation of 14 like-minded organizations working together and with partners and allies around the world to bring about lasting change.

Survey reveals that sixty percent of rape victims gang raped, more than half in their own homes, appalling increase in number of civilian rapists
 
An extensive study of rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) commissioned by Oxfam and conducted by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative shows that 60 percent of rape victims surveyed were gang raped by armed men and more than half of assaults took place in the supposed safety of the family home at night, often in the presence of the victim’s husband and children.
 
While the majority of rapists were either soldiers or militiamen, the report also shows a shocking 17-fold increase in rapes carried out by civilians between 2004 and 2008.
 
The report, ‘Now, the world is without me’, is based on a study by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which analysed information collected from 4,311 female rape victims who were treated in Panzi hospital in South Kivu Province over a four-year period.
 
The report found that the incidence of rape spiked during military activities. Given the ongoing offensives against militia groups in eastern Congo, the report has real relevance for the situation in DRC today. Over 5,000 people were raped in South Kivu only in 2009, according to the UN. The report comes out ahead of the UN Security Council visit to DRC this weekend, with the council set to renew the UN peacekeepers mandate in May.
 
Krista Riddley Director of Humanitarian Policy, Oxfam said:
 
“Rape of this scale and brutality is scandalous. This is a wake-up call at a time when plans are being discussed for UN peacekeepers to leave the country. The situation is not secure if a woman can’t even sleep safely in her own bed at night. The report shows when and where women are attacked, and why peacekeepers must continue to play a vital role in creating security while the Congolese government builds up its own capacity to keep civilians from harm.”
 
The study shows that 56 percent of assaults were carried out in the family home by armed men, while 16 percent took place in fields and almost 15 percent in the forest. Fifty-seven percent of assaults were carried out at night. Sexual slavery was also reported, affecting 12 percent of the women in the sample, with some women being held captive for years.
 
The report also offers insights into the stigma facing women within their families after rape and the problems they face getting medical care. Less than one percent of women came to Panzi hospital with their husbands and nine percent had been abandoned by their spouse. One in three women came alone.
 
This stigma leads to delays in seeking treatment, with only 12 percent of the women coming to Panzi within a month of the assault. Very few women came for treatment in time to prevent HIV infection. Over 50 percent of women waited more than a year before seeking treatment, with a significant number waiting more than three years.
 
Krista Riddley from Oxfam said:
 
“Panzi is the only hospital of its kind in South Kivu, which is home to some 5 million people. Many women from rural areas cannot make the journey and often die from the complications associated with brutal rape. Rich country donors together with the Congolese government need to radically increase the medical services available for survivors of sexual violence in Congo’s remote towns and villages. Every woman should be able to get the treatment she needs.” 
 
The research found that fewer than one percent of rapes were perpetrated by civilians in 2004. By 2008, that proportion had gone up to 38 percent.
 
Susan Bartels, the study’s lead researcher from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said, “This study confirms what has only been reported anecdotally until now: sexual violence has become more normal in civilian life. The scale of rape over Congo’s years of war has made this crime seem more acceptable. Although Congo has one of the most progressive laws on rape in Africa, few rapists are prosecuted. The law must be enforced and justice put within reach of survivors.” 
 
The report calls on the Congolese government and the international community to:
 
Increase provision of medical care for survivors of sexual violence, particularly in rural areas. The easier it is to get help locally, the more likely women will be to get timely support for HIV and the more able they will be to manage the risk of others finding out. Stigma remains a significant barrier to accessing care following sexual violence.
 
Ensure that the protection provided by the UN peacekeepers and Congolese security services is tailored to local realities. The peacekeepers and security services need to consult with the local community to provide innovative solutions, such as early warning systems and night patrols to help meet their needs. This is happening in some areas and needs to be rolled out more systematically to respond to the threats this report highlights.
 
Reform the Congolese security sector and justice system to ensure that there is zero tolerance for rape, whether it is committed by civilians, militiamen, or soldiers.
 
ENDS
 
Notes to editors: 
The research was conducted by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and funded by Oxfam America.
 
1. Just over half of perpetrators – 52 percent – were identified as being armed combatants. Another 42 percent identified only as “assailants,” but the researchers say the analysis of data suggests this group is also composed largely of armed men.  
 
2. This is a retrospective cohort study conducted at Panzi Hospital. Interviews were conducted on sexual violence survivors as they presented to the hospital between 2004 and 2008. The interviews were conducted in private by trained female officers using a two-paged, semi-structured questionnaire as the victims came in for treatment. Researchers from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative entered the data into an electronic spreadsheet and quantitative as well as qualitative analysis was performed. 4,311 of the 9,709 sexual violence survivors presenting to Panzi Hospital between 2004 and 2008 were interviewed. 
 
3. The report found that the total number of reported assaults at Panzi hospital had steadily decreased between 2004 to 2008, with military rape decreasing by 77 percent over the same period. However, figures have been affected by a number of particularly serious incidents in 2004, such as one single weekend in June when up to 16,000 women were reportedly raped by military forces in Bukavu.

4. In 2009, cases of military rape have again surged as a result of the Kimia II military offensive, with over 9,000 people – mostly women and girls, but also men and boys – raped in the affected provinces over the course of the year. Data is not yet available on the levels of rape associated with new military offensives in 2010.
 
Testimonies from the report (more available from Oxfam):
 
·         “It was a night in 2007 and my family and I were sleeping in our home. There was a knock from outside; assailants ordered my husband to open the door. A group of six men in military uniform, four armed with guns and two unarmed, came into the house. They started to loot all our valuables. They took us outside and forced us to follow them to the forest. Once we arrived in the forest, they freed my husband but forced me to continue going deeper into the bush with them. A commander had chosen me to be his wife and he kept me in the forest for seven months, raping me anytime he wanted. Because he did not think I was capable of escaping, he allowed me to wander alone and this is when I escaped.”
 
·         .“My family and I were all sleeping when the soldiers arrived. They tied my husband’s hands behind his back and then they took turns raping me. Afterwards they took my husband and me to the forest. When my husband resisted they shot and killed him. I spent three weeks in the forest until one night I was able to escape. When I arrived home, I discovered that my little child was dead.”
 
·         “My husband and I were sleeping in our house. The children were sleeping in the house next door. The soldiers arrived and brought my daughter to our house where they raped her in the presence of my husband and me. Afterwards they demanded that my husband rape my daughter but he refused so they shot him. Then they went into the other house where they found my three sons. They killed all three of my boys. After killing them, two soldiers raped me one after the other,”
 
·         “We found them in our house. They pillaged everything. They put my husband on the bed and beat him. Then two of the soldiers raped me. This story is so tragic – I can’t believe this happened to me. I prefer death instead of life. Now, the world is without me because of my situation.”

This week Oxfam and NME invite music fans to spring clean their record collection and donate any unwanted music to Oxfam stores in exchange for a free exclusive copy of the new-look NME. The magazine available in Oxfam will have a special collectors cover celebrating the greatest lyricists writing and recording today.

Packed to bursting with all the hottest new music, NME will help music fans find the perfect replacement for any unwanted CDs or records. The old music for new music swap gets underway on Friday 16^th April at more than 150 Oxfam stores nationwide (listed in full at www.oxfam.org.uk/nme).

All the music donations will be sold in Oxfam shops to raise money to change lives around the world. The partnership marks the first time a major publication has been given away for free in a charity shop. The link up is expected to bring in more than 12,000 donations of music to Oxfam’s shops.

The donation could be music in any format from an old vinyl album to a new band CD. It could be a guilty pleasure that it’s time to let go of or the soundtrack from a particular moment in life now in the past.

Krissi Murison, editor of NME, said:

“We’ve all got old albums in our collections that have been gathering dust for years. Now is the time to dig them out and do something with them! Head to Oxfam this week to swap your unwanted CDs and records for some new sounds. Not only is it a great chance to discover different music, but you’ll get a free copy of NME with every exchange too.”

Sarah Farquhar, head of retail at Oxfam, said:

“Every Oxfam shop that sells music has its own unique stock. As everyone from DJs to vinyl aficionados knows, our shops are one of the best places on the high street to pick up hidden treasures.

“NME readers have been filling their record collections with bargains from our shops for years, helping us raise millions to fight poverty at the same time. It’ll be fascinating to see what music comes through the door this week.”

The new-look NME unveiled last week is now a more opinionated, entertaining and heavyweight music magazine. The new magazine also looks very different with a complete redesign and new layout. There are more words on the page, a smarter feel and better use of NME’s raw and essential photography throughout and even the logo has had a makeover – the infamous red that has been used for over 20 years will now be just one of many colours used.

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Content in the new look NME:

• A brand new front section, featuring vital, in-depth reads such as ‘The Main Event’ – a report, investigation or debate on the week’s most pressing music news story.
• Weekly Talking Head comment pieces from both musicians and NME’s star writers, including Gavin Haynes, Luke Lewis and Emily MacKay.
• Regular new First Night, On The Road and In The Studio pages which showcase NME’s unrivalled access to bands and provides invaluable information to readers on major tours and upcoming albums.
• A complete overhaul of Radar, NME’s vital new music section, to include more new band news, live reports and hot tips each week. The section will also feature regular expert columnists – including Tim Westwood, Simian Mobile Disco and Mary-Anne Hobbs – writing incisively about different music scenes from hip hop to hardcore rock.
• A celebration of NME’s incredible history through a new page ‘This Week In’ which looks back at the brilliant and often bizarre stories from NME’s archive.

NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music. Across its various platforms, the NME brand reaches well over 1million people each week.

About Krissi Murison

Krissi Murison became the new editor of NME, effective September 1, 2009. She took over from Conor McNicholas, who resigned in June 2009. Previously NME’s deputy editor, Krissi left the magazine in February to take up the position of music director for Nylon magazine in New York. She joined NME in 2003 as junior staff writer and went on to work as new bands editor and features editor. She is the 11th editor of the magazine, which launched in 1952.

About Oxfam

Oxfam has an illustrious musical history spanning decades:

• More than 600 Oxfam shops across the country sell second-hand music – double the total number of independent record shops in the UK.
• The charity sells approximately £6 million of music every year, enough to fund its entire programme in Indonesia for a year, buy 187,000 emergency shelters, or provide safe water for eight million people.
• Oxfam sells around 1.8 million CDs and records every year, all donated by the British public. The largest single donation was of 4,000 vinyl albums to an Oxfam shop in Devon in 2008.
• The charity’s Oxjam festival has raised more than £1 million through 3,000 events featuring more than 36,000 musicians, including Jarvis Cocker, Fatboy Slim, and Hot Chip.
• Oxfam has been one of the lead charities at Glastonbury since 1993, raising £2.7 million through stewarding the festival and signing up more than 400,000 people in support of its campaigns at the festival.
• Oxfam has been involved with everything from Live8 to its own Make Trade Fair concerts, and has worked with everyone from Chris Martin and Michael Stipe to Noel Gallagher and Klaxons.

The 2009 overseas aid figures, released today, show that rich countries are failing to deliver on their promises to poorer countries.

The figures, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), show that although there has been a fraction of an increase in total aid, from $122 to $123 billion, the amount of aid has actually fallen by $3.5 billion when compared with last year’s prices. This comes at a time when the World Bank forecasts that 50,000 more children in Sub-Saharan countries may have died this year because of the financial crisis.

Max Lawson of Oxfam said, “This lacklustre performance from donors is not close to meeting the needs of poor countries, who are suffering now from the impact of the economic crisis. It is a scandal that more than half of rich nations have cut their aid this year and are giving less of their income than last year – just 31 cents in every hundred dollars.

“Whilst some countries like the UK have made efforts to increase aid, others are really letting the side down. Italy’s aid spending has plunged by a massive 31 per cent, Ireland’s by 18.9 per cent, Germany’s by 12 per cent, Japan by 10.7 per cent and Canada by 9.5 per cent.”

The UK is actually on track to meet its aid commitments, reporting a jump from 0.43 per cent of GDP in 2008 to 0.52 per cent in 2009. Yesterday the Conservatives’ joined the other main parties by pledging in their manifesto to introduce legislation to require UK governments to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid.

Lawson said: “Whoever wins the election must work to pass a Bill as soon as possible, to give legal force to the UK’s promises to the world’s poorest people and increase the budget to meet 0.70 per cent by 2013.”

Forty years ago* rich countries pledged to spend 0.7 per cent of their annual national incomes in development aid. And so far, just five nations – Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – have actually reached the target. Today’s figures show that some donors have increased aid, demonstrating that even in hard economic times this is possible where there is political will to meet international commitments.

“Its crunch time. More aid is vital now to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and world leaders must rebuild their credibility on the global stage before its too late. All rich countries must commit to timetables to meet 0.7, backed by national binding legislation, when they meet at the UN summit in September to review their progress on MDGs.” Said Lawson.

Delivered well, aid saves lives. In Nepal development aid has been pivotal in dramatically improving healthcare, with a series of reforms including abolishing health fees. Since 2006 the under-five mortality rate has reduced by 22 per cent, neo-natal mortality by 38 per cent and maternal mortality has fallen by 19 per cent. In fact maternal mortality has now fallen by 58 per cent in the country since 1996 – a towering success.

New research published on Monday** revealed that maternal deaths have fallen worldwide, from over half a million a year in 1980 to less than 350,000 in 2008.

“The heartening fall in global maternal mortality comes in large part because of well-targeted aid spending. It is unconscionable for rich countries to fail on aid promises when there are such rich rewards to be won in the fight against poverty.” said Lawson.

/Ends

For more information please contact Sarah Dransfield, Oxfam Press Officer on +44 (0) 1865 472269, +44 (0)7767 085636 or [email protected]

* In 1970 the UN General Assembly committed to providing 0.7% of Gross national product in aid. This was recommitted to by rich countries attending the 2002 Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development, and at the G8 meeting in Gleneagles in 2005 where European members of the G8 also recommitted to reaching the 0.7% target, by 2015.

**According to a study published in the Lancet.

Aid levels from G8 member countries Canada and Japan have dropped, by 10.2 per cent and 9.5 per cent respectively. Aid from the US registered a small increase from 0.19 to 0.20 per cent of GDP. The UK remains on target for its aid commitments, reporting a jump from 0.43 per cent of GDP in 2008 to 0.52 per cent in 2009. France has increased its aid from 0.39 per cent to 0.46 per cent of GDP.

After debt relief is deducted the increase in aid from 2008 to 2009 was better, but still way off track to meet promised increases.

EU 15 Member States pledged to spend 0.7 per cent of their GNI on aid by 2015. EU 12 Member States committed to spend 0.33% of their GNI on aid by 2015. The collective EU target for next year is to provide 0.56% of GNI in aid by 2010. The EU is off track to meet this target.

Some donors have increased the percentage of aid given, but are actually spending less. Aid from the Netherlands rose slightly as a percentage of the economy, but actual spend fell by nearly $600 million. Spain’s aid rose from 0.45 to 0.46 as a percentage of GDP but its actual spend fell by $200 million, a disappointing record for the country holding the Presidency of the European Union. Although both Sweden and Luxembourg gave over 1% of GNI, the actual amount given was less than in 2008.

Three months after the catastrophic earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, an in-depth survey of over 1,700 Haitians shows people’s top priorities for reconstruction are jobs and schools. The survey, carried out by an independent Haitian polling consultant and funded by international agency Oxfam, also shows that Haitians have little confidence in their government to lead the recovery phase. Only 6.6 percent of Haitians believe their government alone should be responsible for rebuilding the country. Sixty-four percent of Haitians believe international NGOs did a ‘very good,’ ‘good’ or ‘decent’ job in the emergency earthquake response.

Additional key findings include:

ü      Haitians’ top priorities for reconstruction are (in order of priority): jobs, schools, shelter, and a strong agricultural sector

ü      Unemployment was the no. 1 problem before and after the earthquake.

ü      The top four problems now (in order of severity) are unemployment, corruption, violence and insecurity, and irresponsibility of the government.

The survey was administered over a three-day period in March. University students with specialized training in one-on-one survey interviews made home visits with respondents across a range of age, regional and socioeconomic groups. The final survey report provides extensive analysis of the results of the 16-point questionnaire and provides an explanation of the survey methodology.

Full survey as a pdf file available here:

English – http://bit.ly/cOFf2P

French – http://bit.ly/9ztGCC

***NOTE: The opinions expressed and shared in the survey are those of the people only. They are not the positions of Oxfam.

Responding to the announcement of the latest overseas aid figures by the Department for International Development Max Lawson, Oxfam Head of Development Finance, said: “The Government deserves real credit for sticking to its promises to poor people in this time of economic crisis.

“Now, whoever wins the next election has a duty to ensure the UK meets in full its promise to raise aid spending to 0.7% of national income. This will not cost a fortune – less than 1p of every pound raised is spent on overseas aid – but it will help save millions of lives.”