A report by international charity Oxfam on Monday showed some of the countries most deeply involved in Syria's civil war, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and France, are among the least generous in helping its victims. Oxfam released the report ahead of a donor conference in London on Thursday along with an appeal for increased aid and resettlement abroad for 10 percent of the refugees registered in Syria's neighbours by the end of the year. Most rich countries were contributing less than their "fair share" of financial aid, the amount a country should contribute relative to the size of its economy. Countries gave 56.5 percent of the $8.9 billion requested by aid appeals for 2015, it said.
Multinational corporations and nations buy up land in foreign countries, most of them intending to export the production. Oxfam recently published a report about this phenomenon, called land-grabbing and its problems for the local societies. However, the Oxfam’s study also gives recommendations for a possible solution to the dilemma.
Despite the initial high optimism after Ali Abdullah Saleh's fall from power, almost half of the country's population suffer from starvation, says the World Food Programme. The appeals for humanitarian help made by Oxfam and Islamic Relief to the UN resultet in a minor raise of funds. Still, instead of $38m, the UN has decided on only $586m. Suggested reasons for this reaction are lack of media coverage, associations with al-Qaida and lack of political sway as well as donor fatigue.