Pacific Press Release – Oxfam

Oxfam is calling on the New Zealand Government and the international community to rethink traditional assumptions about economies in the Pacific, in order to best support people through the global economic crisis and out of poverty. Read more »

Press Release – Oxfam

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson, former UN Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered a global verdict on the human cost of climate change yesterday. The judgment was passed at the world’s first international climate hearing, hosted by Oxfam … Read more »

Press Release – Oxfam

Tuvalu is calling for a discussion on what form the final deal from Copenhagen will take. The small island state has put forward a proposal for a new protocol – in addition to the Kyoto Protocol – to include commitments from the US, as well as … Read more »

Press Release – Oxfam

Six weeks on from the devastating Samoa tsunami, Oxfam and its Samoan partner organisation, Women in Business, are helping affected families to rebuild their livelihoods through organic agriculture for niche export markets. Oxfam and Women in Business Development …
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Ratu Inoke Kubuabola ... claims PACER meeting without Fiji is illegal. Photo: Fiji Minfo

Pacific.Scoop
By Crosbie Walsh

As more PACER Plus talks get underway in Cairns today and tomorrow — without Fiji — Oxfam NZ executive director Barry Coates warns that any rigid free trade deal would mean a loss of government jobs and revenue in the region and worsen poverty and health problems.

“What is needed is an economic cooperation agreement, with the Pacific’s development at its core,” he said.
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Nine-year-old Jane Filemu at the Pacific climate change "wash" protest today. Photo: Oxfam

Pacific Press Release – Oxfam, 23 October 2009

Pacific Islands ‘hung out to dry’

Pacific Islanders waded out into the sea and hung 350 T-shirts, each printed with the name of a different island, on a series of giant washing lines in Auckland today to highlight the insufficient action being taken to combat climate change.
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Press Release – Oxfam

Trade officials are assembling in Brisbane today to kick off negotiations on a new Pacific trade agreement. Ministers will follow later in the week. This is a crucial meeting which will test whether Australia and New Zealand are prepared to listen …
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Oxfam's Barry Coates ... "activist viewpoint from an early age". Photo: Megan Anderson

Pacific.Scoop
Profile – By Megan Anderson

Climate change tides are swelling. World leaders gnash their teeth in indecision. Hungry mouths are still there. Barry Coates knows – he’s trying to deal with it all.
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Recovering in the wake of the tsunami. Photo: Jane Ussher/Oxfam

Pacific.Scoop
By Lucy Mullinger

Almost two weeks after the tsunami hit Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, the devastation remains disturbing for many across the Pacific.

Without the kindness of strangers throughout the region, many people could have lost hope for the future.
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Press Release – Oxfam

Just over a week after tsunami waves scoured the southern coast of Samoa, killing one per cent of the population and seriously affecting one out of every six people, the relief effort is still urgent. International agency Oxfam is stressing that recovery …
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