Lawson says the G7 needs to cancel Global South debts, end hunger and pay up for climate damage.

Lawson spoke out after the G7 met in Hiroshima last week.

"They failed to cancel debts and they failed to find what is really required to end the huge increase in hunger worldwide.

"They can find untold billions to fight the war but can't even provide half of what is needed by the UN for the most critical humanitarian crises."

If the G7 really want backing for the war in Ukraine, they have to go about it differently, Lawson said.

He noted Global South countries are being crippled by a food and debt crisis of huge proportions.

"Countries are paying over US$200 million a day to the G7 and their bankers, money they could spend feeding their people instead."

Pope Francis is likewise concerned.

Last week he asked the G7 to seek "responsible multilateral cooperation."

He asked for an integral global security "capable of embracing issues including access to food and water, respect for the environment, health care, energy sources and the equitable distribution of the world's goods."

Some statistics

Over half of all debt payments from the Global South are going to the G7 or to private banks based in G7 countries.

Over US$230 million dollars a day is flowing into the G7.

Countries are bankrupt, spending far more on debt than on health or food for their people.

Debt payments have increased sharply as Global South countries borrow in dollars; rising interest rates supersede their debt repayments.

Climate Change

Another G7 failure is that its policies damage the world's weather systems.

It owes the Global South US$8.7 trillion for the losses and damages its carbon emissions cause, Lawson said.

While the G7 Hiroshima communique said they recognised the new Loss and Damage fund, they failed to commit a cent to it.

"It is good they continue to recognise the need to meet 1.5 degrees and stay committed to this despite the energy crisis driven by the war in Ukraine, but they try to blame everyone else.

"They must stop using fossil fuels immediately - the planet is on fire."

Source

• Oxfam
• Catholic Culture

The charity has also been criticised for ignoring victims' complaints.

In a 150-page report, the Charity Commission (a UK watchdog organisation that reports directly to the UK parliament) laid out the outcome of its investigations into Oxfam, exposing what it described as a "culture of poor behaviour".

The Commission says it heard complaints of Oxfam staff sexually abusing over a dozen under age volunteers in high street charity shops.

It also learned that convicted sex offenders were found working behind some charity shop counters.

The Commission found much to criticise in the way Oxfam - purportedly a "global charity fighting poverty and injustice" - dealt with claims of serious sexual misconduct by its staff in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

It found Oxfam failed to act on reports that senior workers were raping Haitian convent girls as young as 12.

The report also says messages from victims sent directly to Dame Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's former head, were dismissed as fake.

The emails, sent in 2011, claimed to be from a 13-year-old Haitian. She said she and a friend had been forced into prostitution to survive and had been "beaten and used by two men who I know work for you.

"They also have boss who works for you and I have not met, but my young friend, she is 12 (and) has had sex with him."

The emails arrived as Oxfam was investigating allegations that senior aid workers were paying Haitian girls for sex.

Dame Barbara replied to the sender immediately, promising the allegations would be taken seriously.

However, a member of staff later admitted that after a brief investigation the charity "thought no more of it, to be honest".

Last year Oxfam was accused of covering up claims staff sexually exploited victims of the 2010 earthquake.

Oxfam accepted the findings, saying what happened in Haiti was "shameful".

Source

• BBC
• Telegraph
• Image:www.itv.com

Their promise follows an investigation into international aid organisation Oxfam

The Times newspaper found Oxfam UK workers demanded sex for money following a catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

The newspaper also accused Oxfam officials of financial mismanagement, harassment, bullying and negligent supervision.

"We are aware of The Times' investigation of Oxfam UK members and their conduct in the Haiti earthquake response," Catholic Relief Services Communications Director, Kim Pozniak, says.

"First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these atrocious acts.

"We unequivocally condemn any act that violates the rights and human dignity of individuals."

Following The Times revelations, Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD) dismissed a former Oxfam worker who joined CAFOD after working with Oxfam in Haiti.

Oxfam confirmed the employee was accused of sexual misconduct.

CAFOD Director Chris Bain said: "We were not aware of allegations made against this employee and received two references, as standard practice, at the time of recruitment."

David Adams, the Vice President of Missions for Cross Catholic Outreach, lived and worked in Haiti for years as Mission Director for the US Agency for International Development.

He says the majority of humanitarian aid workers in Haiti did not abuse their power in such an appalling way.

"Cross Catholic Outreach was deeply involved in the humanitarian response to the 2010 earthquake and observed that the great majority of humanitarian workers including our own staff responded to the needs of the vulnerable with nothing but love and compassion," he said.

"We deliberately select staff with work experience in Haiti who understand the cultural context and underlying causes of poverty rather than aid workers who accept short-term positions moving from one country or disaster situation after another."

Other Catholic aid organisations who work in Haiti also say that they have protocols for aid workers and partners in international development.

These protocols are intended to ensure the protection of the vulnerable people they serve.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) say their protocol includes a whistleblower system and a protection training course.

All CRS employees and partners must complete the course.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Crux
• Image: Catholic News Agency

According to a report released by the charity on Monday, the US, China, Japan, Germany, France and the UK, which together make up 56.6% of global GDP, between them host just 2.1 million refugees: 8.9% of the world's total.

Of these 2.1 million people, roughly a third are hosted by Germany (736,740), while the remaining 1.4 million are split between the other five countries. The UK hosts 168,937 refugees, a figure Oxfam GB chief executive, Mark Goldring, has called shameful.

In contrast, more than half of the world's refugees - almost 12 million people - live in Jordan, Turkey, Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon and South Africa, despite the fact these places make up less than 2% of the world's economy.

Oxfam is calling on governments to host more refugees and to do more to help poorer countries which provide shelter to the majority of the world's refugees.

"This is one of the greatest challenges of our time yet poorer countries, and poorer people, are left to shoulder the responsibility," said Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB.

"It is a complex crisis that requires a coordinated, global response with the richest countries doing their fair share by welcoming more refugees and doing more to help and protect them wherever they are.

"Now more than ever, the UK needs to show that it is an open, tolerant society that is prepared to play its part in solving this crisis. It is shameful that as one of the richest economies the UK has provided shelter for less than 1% of refugees." Continue reading

Source & Image:

• The Guardian — article by Kate Lyons, a journalist on The Guardian's special projects desk.

Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze, even on those who can currently afford food, the NGO says.

In an acceleration of a trend which has seen food prices double in the last 20 years, the charity is forecasting food prices will increase by 120-180 per cent in the next 20 years unless there is reform.

"The food system must be overhauled if we are to overcome the increasingly pressing challenges of climate change, spiralling food prices and the scarcity of land, water and energy," said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive.

The report, Growing a Better Future, acknowledges that climate change will cause half of that increase. But the poverty and justice agency calls on world leaders to increase transparency in commodities markets, regulate futures markets, increase food reserves, end promotion of biofuels and invest in small farming, particularly helping women farmers.

Among the many factors continuing to drive rising food prices in the coming decades, Oxfam predicts that climate change will have the most serious impact.

And it calls on the international community to launch a global climate fund "so that people can protect themselves from the impact of climate change and are better equipped to grow the food they need."

The report says a "broken" food system causes "hunger, along with obesity, obscene waste, and appalling environmental degradation", and "power above all determines who eats and who does not", and says the present system was "constructed by and on behalf of a tiny minority - its primary purpose to deliver profit for them".

"We are sleepwalking towards an avoidable age of crisis," said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive.

"One in seven people in the planet goes hungry every day despite the fact that the world is capable of feeding everyone," she said.

Sources

• ucanews.com