peace and security

One of my favorite parts of my job at Oxfam is reading new research findings and reports in our field to help my humanitarian programming and policy colleagues keep on top of external trends. I recently conducted such a scan to guide Oxfam’s planning for the coming year. Here are eight of the most interesting things that I found.

This post comes to us from Jean Pierre Buledi, Program Officer/Research and Documentation, with Oxfam's local partner in the DRC, The Centre for Documentation and Civic Education (CEDAC).

War has raged in Syria for more than two years now with devastating human cost. Over 100,000 people have been killed and around 8 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

« Maman, sommes-nous devenus des mendiants ? » La fille de Sahra lui a posé cette question. C’est d’ailleurs littéralement la première chose qu’elle nous raconte lorsque nous la rencontrons avec d’autres femmes réfugiées à Shabreeha, dans le sud du Liban.

Anna Macdonald, Oxfam's Head of Arms Control, gave this speech at the UK's Foreign Commonwealth Office Arms Trade Treaty Reception (15 May 2013), to celebrate ten years of Control Arms Campaigning which culminated with the UN's 2 April 2013 vote in favor of a global arms trade treaty.

Me he pasado tres días en la capital de África, Addis Abea, sede de la Unión Africana. Durante este tiempo, ha habido una intensa actividad al margen de la cumbre de la UA, pero he encontrado algún momento para poder explicar el trabajo de Oxfam a varia gente. Los tres días concluyeron con una actividad a la cual asistí llamada “50 lugares, 50 voces”, organizada por el equipo de Derechos en situación de Crisis de Oxfam.

“So mummy are we beggars now?” is a question Sahra’s daughters asked her. It’s virtually the first thing she tells us when we visit her and other women refugees in Shabreeha, South Lebanon. The women have been in Lebanon between four and ten months. Sahra (35), her husband and three children fled the conflict in Syria with little but the clothes they were wearing. The clothes have had a lot of wear. She says, “My children are ashamed when they go out.”

I recently spent three days in Africa’s capital, Addis Ababa, the seat of the African Union. During this time, there was a flurry of activity in the margins of the AU summit but I found my own space to talk to various people about Oxfam’s work. The three days were concluded by attending an activity called “50 Voices, 50 Places”, organized by Oxfam’s Rights in Crisis team.

More people are displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) right now than at any time over the past three years, and tens of thousands more people have fled to neighboring countries. Oxfam’s Policy Advisor in DRC, Samuel Dixon, explains the current crisis and what the international community can do to help ease the suffering: 

En estos momentos hay más personas desplazadas en la República Democrática del Congo (RDC) que en los últimos tres años, y hay decenas de miles de personas que han dejado sus hogares y puesto rumbo a los países vecinos. El responsable de incidencia política de Oxfam en la República Democrática del Congo, Samuel Dixon, nos explica la crítica situación actual y qué puede hacer la comunidad internacional para mitigar el sufrimiento de las personas afectadas.