Speaking out together

1959 - Oxfam creates a team to help schools teach children about poverty and inequality, building the beginnings of a huge youth movement against injustice. In the 60s, the team arranges for nearly 800 school children to visit one of our programmes in Algeria.

1959 - World Refugee Year sees a huge push by Oxfam to raise awareness of the refugee crisis still affecting many people after the second world war. Oxfam takes part in a campaign to ‘close the camps’.

1964 - Oxfam holds a rally in Trafalgar Square in support of our Hunger Million appeal. The drive to tackle the root causes of hunger inspires thousands of people to take action.

1965 - Mick Jagger signs our Youth Against Hunger declaration.

1978 - The Move Against Poverty campaign is launched, inspiring a generation of young people to take part in fasts, collect signatures and stage ‘happenings’ outside town halls.

1984 - After the shocking report of famine in Ethiopia, we launch the Hungry for Change campaign to change policies on debt, trade and aid.

1985 - Our Free Front Line Africa campaign calls on the UK government to cancel debts of southern African states and push the South African government to abolish apartheid.

Oxfam announces it will stop using Barclays Bank because of their support to apartheid South Africa. Student organisations across Britain take similar action. A year later Barclays pulls out of South Africa – a major victory.

1992 - Oxfam campaigns for fair trade, and is a founding member of the Fairtrade Foundation, which focuses on promoting and certifying fair trade products to ensure producers get a better deal.

1992 - Our Landmines Appeal calls for a global ban of the use of landmines, helping to lead to the Ottawa Landmines Ban Treaty. The annual death toll from landmines has fallen by about 75% since.

1994 - Oxfam is one of the few organisations to name the horrific genocide in Rwanda for what it is. We urge the UN Security Council to take action to prevent the killing of thousands of civilians.

1998 - Over 400,000 people sign our Drop the Debt petition, and in the years that follow many countries have around $130 billion of unaffordable debts wiped.

1999 - Oxfam takes on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), challenging their economic policies and demands on developing countries. We campaign to warn that the world’s poorest countries are suffering terrible side effects from IMF programmes.

2000 - Oxfam launches the Cut the Cost campaign, working with others such as the Treatment Action Campaign, to make life-saving medicines more affordable by taking on pharmaceutical companies – and challenging high drug prices and patent laws.

189 governments promise to deliver universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment by 2010 – a huge victory which has led directly to 8 million people being alive today on free treatment.

2002 - Make Trade Fair draws massive support from the public and celebrities, with Coldplay headlining concerts in support of the campaign and 17.8 million people signing a global petition.

2003 - The Control Arms campaign sparks a 10-year-long move to put the world's first global Arms Trade Treaty in place. The Treaty will prevent human suffering, and put people’s lives and safety before the profits of arms companies. Our Million Faces petition is shared with UN Secretary Kofi Annan.

The treaty comes into force in December 2014, controlling the illegal sale of weapons.

2005 - The Make Poverty History campaign sees Oxfam working in coalition with hundreds of organisations, individuals, religious groups and more to call for an end to poverty. 225,000 people march in Edinburgh, calling for better aid, fair trade, and debt cancellation.

G7 leaders pledge to eradicate poverty by 2030.

2013 - Farmers, consumers and investors challenge the ‘Big 10’ food and drinks companies to change practices that keep people in poverty, through our Behind the Brands campaign.

Companies like Kellogg’s and Pepsi make significant social and environmental improvements to their supply chains.

2013 - Oxfam launches the Love Syria campaign, in response to escalating violence.

The UK government commits to giving £500 million in aid to the Syrian people – the most it has ever given in response to a humanitarian crisis. Politicians also vote against military action in Syria, and agree to stop sending arms to the region.

2014 - Oxfam reveals shocking figures on inequality, ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos. A year later, the UN sets a global goal to reduce inequality – and extreme poverty – by 2030.

2015 - In the lead up to the 2015 General Election, thousands of campaigners push politicians to #MakeTaxFair as part of our Even it Up campaign - in order to raise funds to fight poverty in the UK and other countries.

Together we put tax at the top of the agenda, including via our award-winning campaign film highlighting the very real impacts of tax avoidance. All parties promise in their manifestos to crack down on tax dodging.

2015 - As world leaders meet in Paris to discuss a global climate deal, hundreds of thousands take to the streets and social media to join the #EyesOnParis campaign and demand a fair deal for people living on the front lines of the climate crisis worldwide.

After decades of campaigning, at this summit 196 countries agree to an historic, and legally binding treaty to combat climate change and its impacts.

2015 - Thousands of Oxfam supporters push the UK government to end its reliance on coal energy by signing our petition and sharing our campaign video fronted by Simon Pegg.

Later that year, the government announces it will phase out coal power by 2026.

2015 - After decades of tireless campaigning, parliament passes a law the UK will spend 0.7% of national income on life-saving aid. This supports millions of people worldwide in the following years.

2016 - Our Stand As One campaign calls for refugees to be kept safe, together and protected from poverty. Over 250,000 people worldwide call on world leaders to take action.

2016 - As violence escalates and millions are pushed to the brink of famine, Oxfam launches its Red Line for Yemen campaign. Thousands of Oxfam campaigners write to their MPs demanding that the UK government stops fuelling the crisis through arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The UK government is forced to pause arms sales after a legal challenge from campaign groups.

2018 - As part of Oxfam’s Behind the Barcodes campaign, 20,000 signatures are presented to Lidl headquarters urging them to do more to protect the workers behind their food.

Oxfam assesses the six major UK supermarkets and scores their policies and practices on human rights in their supply chains. Lidl is targeted because it’s bottom of Oxfam’s scorecard.

2020 - Oxfam joins the People’s Vaccine alliance, pushing world leaders and pharmaceutical companies to make the Covid vaccine affordable for lower income countries. Campaigners take the demand to world leaders at the G8 summit in Cornwall in 2021.

2022 - Millions of people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan face the worst hunger crisis in living memory. Oxfam launches the F for Famine campaign, calling on the UK government to take timely action and increase aid funding to avert widespread famine.

Watch the campaign film here

2022 - People across the world join climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti and Oxfam to call for world leaders at COP27 to call for finance for people facing loss and damage because of the climate crisis.

A specific fund for Loss and Damage is agreed at the summit – a huge win for activists and communities on the front lines of the climate crisis who have been calling for this for over 30 years!

2023 - With thousands of people killed in Gaza and humanitarian aid blocked, Oxfam joins with others to launch the global #CeasefireNOW campaign, calling on governments to push for a permanent ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access.

Hundreds of thousands of campaigners take action with Oxfam in solidarity with Palestinians, to demand the UK government end its complicity and stop arming Israel. The government suspends some arms exports.

2024 - As part of the Make Rich Polluters Pay campaign – pushing the UK government to make the biggest polluters pay into the climate Loss and Damage fund – Oxfam campaigns for a luxury travel tax on private jets and superyachts.

At the Autumn Budget, the UK Chancellor announces a 50% increase in air passenger duty for private jets.