MAKE POVERTY HISTORY - OXFAM

About the campaign

Oxfam is part of a coalition of organisations and groups around the world who believe 2005 provides an unprecedented opportunity to say ‘enough is enough’ to global poverty.

In the UK under the banner MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY we ensure 2005 – when the UK hosts the G8 summit and holds the chair of the European Union – is a special year for millions of people living in poverty. 2005 is also the 20th anniversary of Live Aid.

There will be lots of chances for you to help make poverty history throughout the year. Oxfam will be offering support to teachers wanting to cover key issues like trade (including fair trade), aid and third world debt in schools. Schools may also wish to take part in awareness-raising activities planned throughout the year.

Keep your eye on Cool Planet for Teachers, or sign up for our termly email newsletter, to keep up to date with new materials for 2005.

For more information and to sign up for regular updates on MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY, visit: www.makepovertyhistory.org

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY is the name for the UK platform in support of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. To find out what other countries are doing to support this worldwide campaign, visit www.whiteband.org.






The Internationalisation of EU Asylum Policy

European Union asylum policy is shifting overseas. The politicisation of asylum-related issues and the desire to ‘manage migration’ are the forces behind a wave of new ‘internationalised initiatives which could have a serious impact on the lives of refugees.

This mixed agenda has the potential to enhance as well as threaten refugees’ safety and dignity, but at present it includes inadequate safeguards for their protection, and it is insufficiently informed by an understanding of the realities of their lives.

Because these policies are moving from the domain of home affairs into the arena of foreign policy and aid, this report is aimed at a wide range of readers in the EU and in refugees’ countries and regions of origin and transit:

official policy makers on asylum and migration, and on foreign affairs and development;
staff of international agencies and NGOs, representatives of refugee groups, and experts on asylum and on humanitarian, development, and foreign affairs.
The authors draw on the experience of Oxfam GB in Europe and in refugee situations worldwide. Policy analysis is interwoven with original research into refugee realities in three countries (Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania), drawing lessons from the conditions there and bringing in the voices of refugees, returnees, and internally displaced persons, who are so often excluded from the debate.

The report presents an agenda for action to ensure that the internationalisation of asylum policy pays full regard to the rights and protection of individuals.

Copies may be ordered at £5 (to cover postage and packing). You can contact publish@oxfam.org.uk. You can also download a PDF version from www.Oxfam.org.uk.




Climate Debate

www.opendemocracy.net/climate_change

From 21 April until 10 June, leading scientists, artists, writers, politicians, businessmen and others are taking part in the world’s first global online debate on the politics of climate change. Join them!

- Prof. Sir David King, chief scientific advisor to the UK government, says climate change is a real and present danger, requiring urgent and committed action.

- most climatologists are convinced that global warming is mainly due to humans, but critical evaluation and scepticism should not be scorned, says Benny Peiser

- unchecked fossil fuel combustion is making the oceans more acidic. This could have catastrophic consequences, say Carol Turley and Jerry Blackford

- Sounds and pictures of a changing world by Max Eastely and David Buckland

- The UK roundtable – activists ask, have we failed? Where do we go from here?