Category: Rights in crisis

Since I’ve been working on the Control Arms campaign with Oxfam Australia, I’ve been particularly interested in the issue of ammunition, and how it should be addressed within an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Read more »

With talks currently underway in New York City, the Chair of the Arms Trade Treaty Roberto Moritan may have already set the scene for these important negotiations. He has warned delegates that the Rolling Stones might have something to teach everyone about expectations when they sing “I can’t get no satisfaction”. Read more »

In 2007-8 the infant mortality rate dropped in Brazil saving 1,700 babies from early death compared to the year before. The same year 14,000 young Brazilians between 14 and 19 years old were killed as a result of armed violence. This brutal trend is essentially shooting down Brazil’s hard won development achievements, and begs the question – development for what? Read more »

by Ben Murphy, Humanitarian Advocacy Officer, Oxfam Australia. Ben will be blogging and tweeting (@Ben_Murphy83) from insude the UN Arms Trade Treaty conference all next week. Once again, I’m joining a group of campaigners from around the world for a one-week session of the negotiations towards an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at the UN in […] Read more »

New figures show that world prices are at their highest level since the organisation started measuring them in 1990 – topping prices seen in June 2008 at the height of the last global food crisis. Why is it happening and what can we do about it? Read more »

Martha Bol, a widow, and her children, spent their first night back in Leer county in southern Sudan sleeping outside in the cold. It wasn’t quite the homecoming she was expecting, but she was still excited to be back after spending the last two decades living on the outskirts of Khartoum, in the north of Sudan. Read more »

Southern Sudan is preparing for its historic referendum on 9 January, in which southerners will vote whether to become the world’s newest independent country. Augustino Buya, one of Oxfam’s longest serving staff, reflects on how life in Juba – the southern capital – has changed over the past few decades of war and peace. Read more »

Across central Africa, men, women and children live in fear of the Lord’s Resistance Army. This predatory group attacks women as they perform their daily tasks – fetching water or tending to their fields – and children returning from school. The LRA has become the most deadly militia in eastern Congo, with Christmas time marked by appalling massacres. Read more »

Watch the winning films from Shooting Poverty – an opportunity for filmmakers from around the world to create a short documentary showing the deadly impacts of armed violence and irresponsible transfers of weapons on ordinary people. Read more »

In the past ten months, a country that initially faced extreme poverty has dealt with a devastating earthquake, heavy rains and storms, and now a fast-spreading cholera epidemic. For outsiders, Haiti’s recovery seems frustratingly slow. For organizations working here, the question is where to start? Read more »