Oxfam response to President Biden’s first address to the United Nations General Assembly

Tuesday 21st September 2021

In response to President Biden’s first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America, made the following statement:

On vaccines

“President Biden declared that our collective priorities should be to ‘save lives, vaccinate the world and build back better’. In this global pandemic, there are no silver bullets, but bringing about a people’s vaccine can deliver against those important goals. That’s why at his COVID Summit tomorrow, President Biden must rally world leaders to end vaccine monopolies, waive intellectual property rules, mandate the sharing of vaccine technologies and know-how, invest in manufacturing capacity in developing countries as well as in research and development, and reallocate existing vaccine doses as soon as possible.”

On climate finance

“In the face of the climate crisis, we welcome President Biden’s commitment to double the US climate finance pledge. This is a positive step to support the world’s most vulnerable communities, but we must ensure this finance is additional to development aid, aligns with the priorities of local communities and is flexible enough to meet their needs. It is also crucial that at least 50 percent of this pledge is dedicated to adaptation initiatives.”

On combatting hunger

“We also welcome President Biden’s newly announced $10 billion to fight hunger, which must now be coupled with a concrete plan to urgently support frontline organisations, reach the most vulnerable people and tackle the root causes of the hunger crisis. Unrelenting conflict on top of the COVID-19 economic fallout, and a worsening climate crisis, has pushed more than 520,000 people to the brink of starvation.”

Ends