Briefs

What Will Become of Us: Voices from around the world on drought and El Nino

About 60 million people across Southern Africa and the Horn, Central America, and the Pacific face worsening hunger and poverty due to droughts and crop failures in 2014/5 that have been exacerbated by the El Niño weather system in 2015/6. This number is likely to rise.

Broken at the top

How America’s dysfunctional tax system costs billions in corporate tax dodging

The IFC and Tax Havens

The need to support more responsible corporate tax behavior

Resettling 10 Percent of Syrian Refugees

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is organizing a ‘Highlevel meeting on global responsibility sharing through pathways for admission of Syrian refugees,’ which will be opened by the United Nations Secretary-General in Geneva on March 30, 2016. Oxfam is calling for the states attending the Geneva conference to collectively commit to offer a safe haven through resettlement or other forms of humanitarian admission to at least 10 percent of the refugee population – the equivalent of 481,220 people – by the end of 2016.

Yemen's invisible food crisis

Since March 2015, Yemen has been gripped by a conflict involving different forces including the Houthis, the former president, and the Government of Yemen backed by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

Fuelling the Fire: How the UN Security Council’s Permanent Members are undermining their own commitments on Syria

March 2016 marks five years of upheaval and conflict in Syria – conflict that has reduced lives to shadows and cities to rubble. The Syrian government and its allies, as well as armed opposition and extremist groups, bear the primary and direct responsibility for the horrific reality that Syria’s civilians face on this grim anniversary. They have targeted civilians, laid siege to cities and towns and denied access to life-saving assistance.

This paper examines what the UNSC demands happen in Syria, the situation since March 2015, and significant actions by the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council. In the first months of 2016 and at time of drafting this paper, some progress has been made in securing greater humanitarian access to those in besieged areas and a cessation of hostilities in parts of the country which has resulted in a significant decrease in civilian casualties. These are important steps that should be recognized and built on, but they remain fragile and limited in the context of the overall deterioration experienced by civilians inside Syria over the last horrendous year of violence.