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72. A (More) Feminist Approach to Principled Humanitarian Aid
- Author:
- Rachel Hastie
- Publication Date:
- 03-2025
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Historically there has been very little discussion of feminism within the international humanitarian system. In recent years, some donor governments – including Canada, Mexico, and Germany – have adopted overtly feminist foreign policies and applied these to their strategies and guidance for humanitarian assistance. At the same time, aid actors have started to reconfigure their ways of working, vision, goals, and conceptualisation of humanitarianism in the light of decolonisation, anti-racism, local humanitarian leadership, and gender justice in the aid system. This discussion paper intends to prompt discussion and debate, by exploring what a feminist approach to principled humanitarian aid might look like practically, and what aid actors and the humanitarian system can to do to make it more of a reality.
- Topic:
- Feminism, Neutrality, Humanitarian Assistance, and Impartiality
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
73. Takers Not Makers: The unjust poverty and unearned wealth of colonialism
- Author:
- Anjela Taneja, Anthony Kamande, Chandreyi Gunaray Gomez, Dana Abed, Max Lawson, and Neelanjana Mukhia
- Publication Date:
- 01-2025
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Billionaire wealth has risen three times faster in 2024 than in 2023. Five trillionaires are now expected within a decade. Meanwhile, crises of economy, climate and conflict mean the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990. Most billionaire wealth is taken, not earned- 60% comes from either inheritance, cronyism, corruption or monopoly power. Our deeply unequal world has a long history of colonial domination which has largely benefited the richest people. The poorest, racialized people, women and marginalized groups have been and continue to be systematically exploited at huge human costs. Today’s world remains colonial in many ways. This must be reversed. Reparations must be made to those who were brutally enslaved and colonised. Our modern-day colonial economic system must be made radically more equal to end poverty. The cost should be borne by the richest people who benefit the most.
- Topic:
- Inequality, Colonialism, Cronyism, Monopoly, Justice, Reparations, and Gender
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
74. Innovative Pathways: When and how to use alternative approaches to Human Rights Impact Assessments
- Author:
- Caroline Brodeur and Eline Achterberg
- Publication Date:
- 02-2025
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Human rights violations are widespread across global supply chains, with companies increasingly exposed to risks like forced labor and environmental degradation. While audits and certifications have proven insufficient in preventing such abuses, a more robust approach is necessary. A Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) is an essential tool that helps businesses identify and assess human rights risks by engaging directly with affected rightsholders. This process is becoming more critical, especially with new regulations like the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which mandates comprehensive human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) for large companies starting in 2027. To make the HRIA process more efficient, some companies are exploring alternatives like joint HRIAs, sector-wide impact assessments, and rapid assessments. Joint HRIAs allow companies to share resources and expertise, especially when they source from the same suppliers or regions, while sector-wide assessments provide a broader view of industry-wide impacts. Rapid assessments are a faster alternative, focused on urgent or well-documented issues. Regardless of the approach, companies must adhere to key criteria to ensure effectiveness: selecting appropriate targets, engaging rightsholders meaningfully, addressing root causes, ensuring transparency, and committing to action. These principles ensure that the assessment process is thorough and leads to real, lasting improvements in human rights practices. Cutting corners in the due diligence process is not an option.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Business, Impact Evaluation, and Due Diligence
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
75. Personal to Powerful: Holding the line for gender justice in the face of growing anti-rights movements
- Author:
- Lata Narayanaswamy and Amina Hersi
- Publication Date:
- 03-2025
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Thirty years on from the commitments enshrined in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) this briefing reveals a picture of broken promises and unfulfilled ambition by States. This failure is not just due to a lack of political will, but also an economic system that is unequal by design. As world leaders prepare to review their commitments to the BPfA, they must reject the mainstreaming of anti-rights actors and their co-optation of human rights language as this risks violating universal human rights and eroding the hard-won gains of feminist and LGBTQIA+ activists and movements, ultimately breaking the social contract between the state and people.
- Topic:
- Women, Feminism, Decolonization, Care work, Gender Justice, and Bodily Autonomy
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
76. Beyond the Targets: An ambitious agenda to put aid back on track
- Author:
- Salvatore Nocerino
- Publication Date:
- 03-2025
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Aid can make a huge contribution to significantly reducing inequality. Given the widespread agreement that bringing down inequality is necessary to underpin efforts to end poverty, achieve gender justice and successfully fight climate change, there is an urgent need for donors to make this a priority in their aid policies. For this virtuous cycle to be effective, there is also an imperative to rebalance decision-making on aid, ensuring it is done in an inclusive way that centres Global South governments and civil society. Building on the findings of the 2019 Oxfam report 'Hitting the Target: An agenda for aid in times of extreme inequality', this paper presents a new and updated agenda to put aid back on track given recent changes in the development landscape and the multiple crises facing our world. It makes 10 concrete recommendations on how to ensure development finance effectively contributes to building a more equal and sustainable world.
- Topic:
- Development, International Cooperation, Poverty, and Inequality
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
77. Raising the Bar: Supermarkets must urgently address structural exploitation of cocoa farmers
- Author:
- Jesse Arnon and Anouk Franck
- Publication Date:
- 04-2025
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Most cocoa farmers in main cocoa producing countries Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are poor, even though they are at the heart of the supply chain for a luxury good: chocolate. For decades they have been receiving low farm gate prices, which don’t allow them to earn a living income for their families. At the same time, companies in the cocoa and chocolate supply chains have been making huge profits. Supermarkets in the Netherlands and Germany have taken first steps by making long-term commitments to ensuring cocoa farmers are paid a living income reference price, but the share of honest chocolate they have on offer only reaches 5%. It’s time that they radically change the way they do business, by committing to long-term fair prices for farmers, sharing the risk with cocoa farmers and being accountable for all the chocolate products they sell. This paper focuses on supermarkets, which are powerful actors in the cocoa and chocolate supply chain. As primary retailers, supermarkets have a direct link with consumers and have power across the supply chain so they can drive real change. Dutch and German supermarkets have made living income commitments, and they have started implementing them.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Business, Cocoa, Farming, Living Income, and Supermarkets
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Germany, Netherlands, and Global Focus
78. No Women, No Peace – A Snapshot of Oxfam’s Engagement with the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Lessons and Opportunities
- Author:
- Marie Sophie Petersson, Lydia Ayikoru, Souhadou Diasso, Fatma Jaffer, and Moath Jamal
- Publication Date:
- 06-2025
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- This briefing paper summarizes the important lessons learned since 2018 by Oxfam Denmark and the wider Oxfam confederation while promoting the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda and supporting WPS programming in Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, South Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine and Yemen, including under the Danish International Development Agency (Danida) strategic partnerships. It contains practical and policy-level recommendations for international actors working on the WPS agenda in various crisis and conflict contexts globally. The briefing paper shows that supporting and amplifying locally led feminist action by diverse women-led, women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights organizations, networks and groups is a central foundation for peace and justice.
- Topic:
- Leadership, Crisis Management, Gender, Protection, Localization, Women, Peace, and and Security (WPS)
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Global Focus
79. The Primacy of Politics at the Local Level in UN Peace Operations
- Author:
- Allard Duursma and Jenna Russo
- Publication Date:
- 02-2025
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute (IPI)
- Abstract:
- The “primacy of politics” has become a central tenet of UN peacekeeping. This reflects a broad recognition that peacekeeping operations should be deployed in support of a political solution to conflict. In practice, however, the primacy of politics is often narrowly understood as referring to formal, national-level political processes. This overlooks the fact that politics also happens at the local level, both formally and informally. It is critical for UN peace operations to address these local-level politics. Local-level conflicts account for a large share of conflict-related deaths in peacekeeping contexts. They are also closely tied to national-level peace efforts. This has led UN peace operations to become increasingly involved in supporting local peace processes. This report examines how the primacy of politics applies to the local level in UN peacekeeping settings. It highlights the indispensable role of civil affairs components in fostering sustainable peace. When effectively integrated into broader mission strategies, the localized approaches of civil affairs personnel not only address immediate conflict drivers but also contribute to the durability of national-level agreements. These efforts demonstrate that the success of peacekeeping operations hinges on balancing top-down mandates with grassroots engagement, underscoring the interconnectedness of local and national dynamics. The paper concludes with recommendations to strengthen local political engagement in peace operations: Member states should adopt a definition of the primacy of politics that encompasses both formal and informal processes at both the national and subnational levels. The Security Council should also continue incorporating tasks related to local political processes in mission mandates, and the General Assembly should adequately resource these mandates. Mission leaders should craft political strategies that are both top-down and bottom-up. This requires consulting regularly with field offices and reflecting local dynamics in national-level political efforts. They should also ensure coordination between mission components, including civil-military coordination. Civil affairs personnel should systematically map stakeholders at the national and subnational levels to understand how they fit together. They should also map the political economy of local conflicts and form partnerships to target the drivers of these conflicts.
- Topic:
- Politics, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
80. UN Peace Operations and Unconstitutional Changes of Government
- Author:
- Albert Trithart and Bitania Tadesse
- Publication Date:
- 03-2025
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute (IPI)
- Abstract:
- There has been a significant increase in the number of unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs) since 2020. This presents a challenge for the United Nations, which has a presence in all countries that have recently experienced UCGs. In places like Afghanistan, Mali, and Sudan, it has also presented particular challenges to UN peace operations, which face the task of continuing to carry out their work amid a political crisis and using their good offices to facilitate a peaceful return to constitutional order. The report examines lessons from the experiences of the UN missions in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Mali (MINUSMA), and Sudan (UNITAMS) following recent UCGs. It provides a brief overview of recent trends in UCGs and how the responses of member states and international and regional organizations have impacted the responses of UN peace operations. It then analyzes how these UN peace operations approached political engagement with the de facto authorities. It concludes with several lessons: A principled approach at the highest levels of the UN: While some UCGs may bring to power leaders with greater political will to engage with the UN, they are almost always an indicator of growing political instability. The UN secretary-general, along with the African Union (AU) and other regional organizations, should thus continue adopting a principled approach to condemning UCGs. A pragmatic approach for UN peace operations: While the UN should take a principled approach to UCGs at the headquarters level, UN peace operations are well-positioned to take a more pragmatic approach to engaging with de facto authorities. They should take advantage of any openness displayed by the authorities to engage despite fears that doing so might legitimize them. Planning for UCGs and reviewing political strategies: Even if the UN is unable to prevent UCGs, it can better prepare for managing relationships with transitional authorities. It is therefore important to consider such scenarios in mission planning for potential and current operations and to conduct strategic assessments as soon as possible following UCGs to consider how to adapt and potentially identify a new direction for engagement. The challenge of remaining impartial: Fears of “legitimizing” de facto authorities stem from the assumption that those authorities are inherently illegitimate. Yet not all elected authorities have popular legitimacy, and not all authorities who come to power unconstitutionally lack it. UN missions thus need to factor public opinion into how they respond on the ground. The need for a “One UN” response: While there is unlikely to be a “one-size-fits-all” approach to engagement with de facto authorities across the entire UN presence in a country, coordination is needed to ensure UN personnel have a common understanding of core principles of engagement and a coherent approach to communication. The limits of UN engagement: Ultimately, the ability of UN missions to shape political transitions following UCGs tends to be constrained by factors outside their control. Regional organizations like the AU and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) tend to adopt a more principled response, raising questions about the extent to which UN missions should seek to link their engagement to that of these organizations. Missions also face competing pressures from member states supporting different political factions.
- Topic:
- Government, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Sudan, Mali, and Global Focus