Category: Emergencies

It’s been three months since Super Typhoon Haiyan,and our focus is helping people get their livelihoods back. For the time being, there’s little government aid for people like Vilma and Crispin—but there is progress. Read more »

There is something almost surreal about the setting for the Syrian peace talks taking place in Switzerland this week. Montreux is breathtakingly beautiful, the snow-topped Swiss Alps rising starkly over Lake Geneva. Yet this is where world leaders are to decide the fate of Syria and to try and end the brutal war which has […] Read more »

The conflict in Syria is close to entering its fourth year. Ordinary Syrians are the victims of this humanitarian catastrophe – deliberately targeted by those fighting, their cities destroyed, often deprived of food and water, millions have been forced to flee for their lives.  A conflict that began in the political turmoil of the Arab […] Read more »

After months of postponements, the long-awaited Geneva II Conference to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria began yesterday in Montreux, Swtizerland. At the end of the first day of the conference, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Policy Advisor Shaheen Chughtai gave a wrap up of progress so far.    It took a monumental diplomatic effort […] Read more »

Oxfam campaigners are amongst the hundreds of diplomats, journalists, civil society and solidarity groups gathering for the beginning of the long awaited ‘Geneva 2’ peace talks for Syria in the tranquil town of Montreaux, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Police are patrolling the edges of a security fence which rings the buildings where the talks […] Read more »

2013 was an immensely difficult year for the people of Syria, the most devastating in a conflict now almost three years long. You can take action now to help people affected by the violence. This time last year, around 500,000 refugees had fled Syria to neighbouring countries. Now, this has more than quadrupled to an […] Read more »

While Australia is in the midst of a hot summer, tens of thousands of Syrians forced to flee their homes are struggling through a long, bitterly cold winter – the worst to hit the Middle East in decades. Oxfam is there providing support to over half a million refugees. Written by Vanessa Parra – humanitarian […] Read more »

We were thinking it was the end of our lives. I was worrying about my family because my family were living near the shore. Read more »

I saw the signs before I saw the damage. As we drove northward on the Filipino island of Cebu to the hard-hit city of Daanbantayan a week after the typhoon, young children lined the streets, holding up pieces of cardboard that said “Please help, we need food and water.” Read more »

The Oxfam rapid assessment team flew into Samar, the first place to be hit by Typhoon Haiyan. Here are some photos of the scenes they saw, and the Oxfam team’s preparation to respond. Read more »