Demand Dignity for All

Fight fair. Care deeply.

For almost 80 years, people like you have fueled Oxfam’s mission to end the injustice of poverty. Join us today on the next chapter of this journey. Here's everything you need to fight for Dignity for All in 2020.

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Why Dignity for All?

Everyone deserves to be treated equally. We all deserve the same basic rights: a livable planet, food, shelter, education, healthcare. No matter where or how you live in this world, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and compassion. Go back in time and learn how Oxfam has been fighting for Dignity for All since our founding—and why we need you in 2020.

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What we're fighting for

The fight for dignity is more important than ever. COVID-19 has exposed deep systemic inequalities as millions of frontline workers and marginalized peoples struggle to pay their bills and stay healthy. This pandemic has shown us how our gravest challenges here in the US are often the same challenges people face around the world. Racism, economic inequality, gender discrimination, global pandemics, climate change, the refugee crisis: these are issues we can only solve if we stand up for the equal rights of every person and commit to seeing and reaching beyond our borders.

It’s time to strengthen our alliances and fight for dignity for all. This election, Oxfam is asking Americans to demand that all candidates rise to the moment and ensure that the US lives up to our ideals.

Here is our comprehensive vision to achieve it.

Stop COVID-19 and save the economy

The pandemic has crashed the economy with disproportionate impacts on working people, especially women and Black Americans. Meanwhile a small set of large corporations and extremely wealthy investors have profited off of the crisis. We must ensure that corporations and our government are putting people over profits.
We call on the next President to:
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Champion a People’s Vaccine that is free, fair, and available for all
The next President should do everything in their power—including through executive action, regulatory authority, and via the Defense Production Act if necessary—to make the COVID-19 vaccine a global public good. The US should rejoin the World Health Organization and negotiate with world leaders to deliver a fair and equitable global distribution plan for the vaccine and all COVID-19 products and technologies. The next President must also ensure that no one company or country maintain monopoly control over the production of the vaccine, guarantee affordable prices, and prioritize those most at-risk—not those with the most money.

Work to rebuild the economy for working people
Transformational measures to rebuild the economy must be prioritized to help working people keep a roof over their heads and feed their families. Such policies include direct cash assistance to all, supplemental unemployment insurance tied to the unemployment rate, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) expansion, an essential workers bill of rights, and transparent, accountable payroll protections. Paid sick and family leave, support for the care economy, and measures that ensure gender equality are critical.

Restore American leadership and work in partnership to save lives
We will not defeat this virus anywhere until we defeat it everywhere. The US must make multi-billion-dollar investments to stop the pandemic’s spread and increase international aid to help protect vulnerable populations, setting the stage for a lasting economic recovery. Special Drawing Rights at the International Monetary Fund must also be approved to provide low- and middle-income countries with urgent debt relief so they can invest in hospitals and medicine instead of paying interest to Wall Street bondholders.
Fight the climate crisis

Extreme weather, rising temperatures, and changing rainfall patterns hit the vulnerable first and worst. But it will impact us all. We must bridge borders and stand up for the right to a livable planet for all.

We call on the next President to:
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Re-join the Paris Agreement, and commit to significantly reduce US emissions and address climate impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable
Re-joining the Paris Agreement is the best way to work with other countries to address the climate crisis. But it will only be meaningful if the next President also commits to a strong, credible US climate target. For it to be fair, the US must reduce emissions and assist disadvantaged communities in the US and around the world with their adaptation and resilience needs.

Dramatically scale up US contributions for climate aid and finance
The global effort to address climate change will only work if countries like the US help poorer states meet their national climate targets. That means financing both assistance for adaptation and mitigation as well as using US influence to align multilateral institutions with the Paris Agreement. Climate considerations must be integrated into all US foreign assistance spending so the US does not inadvertently drive more emissions in its aid spending.

Reduce emissions from our food system in a way that reduces hunger and ensures farmer livelihoods
Agriculture, forestry, and land use contribute 22 percent of global greenhouse emissions—half of which come from deforestation and emissions associated with fertilizer use, livestock, and rice. An effective climate action plan must empower and protect farmers (particularly small-scale farmers), helping them adopt low-emissions solutions that ensure food security and protect their rights to own and access land and resources.

Ensure front-line communities—particularly women and indigenous groups—have a strong role in making plans and decisions on climate change
Addressing climate change will require some major changes in our society and economy. Doing so fairly will require the free, prior, and informed consent of affected communities. A climate change plan must not replicate or increase existing injustices and inequality.

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Champion gender equality

Across the world, women and gender-diverse people are disproportionately affected by violence, discrimination, food insecurity, and climate change—all of which drive the cycle of poverty. When we reduce gender inequality, we help humanity. Gender justice means justice for all.

We call on the next President to:
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Create an Office of Gender Equality at the White House led by a Cabinet-level Director
Many countries have women’s rights and gender equality ministries or other high-level officials responsible for representing the interests of women and gender-diverse people within the government. These structures deliver real results and the US should follow suit. Such an office would ensure that the next President benefits from expert advice on the gendered impacts of policy-making.

Deliver an agenda for women’s economic empowerment in the US and around the world
A suite of actions, appointments, and legislative proposals must be offered to improve equality and opportunity for women, including the Equal Rights Amendment; raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hr; paid family leave; the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018; protections for pregnant and breastfeeding workers; and ending pay secrecy through legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Immediately reverse existing policies and initiatives that endanger the health and security of women, girls, and gender-diverse people
Gender-based violence is an atrocity that plagues communities the world over. Discriminatory policies, such as the Hyde Amendment as well as all domestic and global gag rules, must be dismantled. The Commission on Unalienable Rights should be disbanded. The next President should support a comprehensive legislative package that incorporates proposals such as the International Violence Against Women Act and the Safe from the Start Act, ensuring an end to violence against women and girls.

Increase funding to protect the rights of all women and girls
The next President must commit to increase funding to implement programs that ensure women and girls’ health, safety, and opportunity so that all women and girls are free to live their lives with dignity. The next President must challenge harmful gender stereotypes and norms in the US and around the world.
Opportunity for all, not just the privileged few

All of us deserve to be governed by fair rules applied equally to everyone, rather than the whims of powerful corporations and individuals. All of us deserve good jobs, health care, and high-quality education. This cannot be achieved without racial justice and equality.

We call on the next President to:
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Reward work over wealth
The next President should deliver a “decent work” package that includes legislation and regulations that ensure a $15/hr federal minimum wage as well as paid sick time and paid family leave; expand the earned income tax credit; protect overtime pay; value unpaid care work; promote predictable work schedules and opportunities for regular and full-time work; end discrimination based on gender, race, and identity; and protect workers’ rights to bargain collectively.

Restore our democracy and curb corporate power over politics
A national initiative to reverse voter suppression and enhance active citizenship must be enacted to ensure every citizen can participate in our democracy. The next President should also promote the public financing of elections, assert new limits on lobbying, close the revolving door between public and private service, and help put an end to gerrymandering.

Reduce inequality through tax policy
A package of progressive taxes should be adopted to finance universal health care, education, social protection, and programs that create economic opportunity for marginalized people. Fair tax policy would shift the burden of taxation from labor and consumption to capital, notably by creating a wealth tax and increasing the estate tax to ensure that inequality is no longer passed down through generations. The next President should support a new tax on high-frequency financial trading, a global minimum corporate tax, as well as the closing of loopholes that currently allow companies to shift profits and jobs offshore.

Check excessive concentration of power by multinational companies
New legislation, regulations, and appointments at key agencies are needed to reduce the damaging impacts of excessive corporate power and consolidation. This should include strengthening anti-trust laws and their enforcement, increasing worker ownership and voice within corporate boards, and ensuring corporate fiduciary duties to all stakeholders—not just shareholders.

Fight for racial and economic justice
COVID-19 has exposed persistent and pervasive racial disparities. Black Americans outpace their white counterparts in virus infection and death rates while possessing 10 times less wealth to weather the unfolding economic recession. The next President must take action to financially stabilize Black households in the near term and pursue a policy agenda that closes the multi-generational racial wealth gap.
Protect the rights of people forced to flee their homes

We must not pit ourselves against one another or blame the most vulnerable among us. We must treat refugees and migrants with compassion, offer them help when they need it, and protect their rights. We must stand up for the shared humanity in us all.
We call on the next President to:
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Recognize the dignity of migrants and America's responsibility to protect refugees
The US approach to migration in the last three years has included cruel border policies, a Muslim Ban, failure to renew Temporary Protected Status, blatant disregard for the right to asylum and protection, efforts to halt refugee resettlement, and spiteful withdrawal of aid to migrants’ countries of origin. The next President must reverse all discriminatory policies instituted since 2017 and improve the existing asylum system through executive actions, plans, and legislation to ensure refugees and migrants are treated with respect and are offered the protections they deserve.

Do our part to solve the global refugee crisis
Over the past three years, the US has trampled on our historic role as the world leader in refugee protection. While the US once resettled nearly 100,000 refugees annually, the effort has dwindled to less than 30,000, and the current President is likely to push for even less. America must be a constructive partner in addressing the global challenge of refugee protection. The next President should commit to a refugee resettlement target of at least 125,000 the first year and increase it thereafter in-line with taking on a fair share of the challenge of the crisis.

Make the asylum process fair and accessible
Migrants seeking asylum should be able to safely and easily ask for protection from human rights violations. The next President must make fundamental changes in the US asylum system, including ending the pointless and destructive cruelty of family separation forever, limiting the use of detention, and eliminating criminal charges for civil violations.

Address root causes of forced migration
Reducing violence, persecution, and poverty would go a long way to reducing the pressure that forces people to flee their homes. The next President must assist other countries to address real needs and our shared interest in a better and more just world.
Collaborate globally to defend human rights and equality

America must contribute towards shared progress and prosperity, rising standards, and all forms of equality, not seek to gain at the expense of families and communities elsewhere.
We call on the next President to:
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Modernize and increase investments in a better and safer world
The next President should support a significant increase in non-military international aid to fight poverty, promote global health, and provide humanitarian relief. Currently, less than one cent of every dollar in the federal budget is spent to fight poverty and build a better, safer world for all. These investments save lives, cure disease, support international organizations like the United Nations, and sustain international peacekeeping forces that share the security burden with our allies.

Stop coddling dictators and war criminals
America’s military might, technology, and diplomacy must support human rights and the rule of law around the world—not undermine them. The next President must limit cooperation and support for leaders who consistently violate human rights and international humanitarian law, especially when it comes to providing security assistance and cooperation. The US must stop arms sales to human rights abusers. While some policies are already in place to restrict such assistance and arms sales, they are rarely enforced. The disastrous arms sales and support for the war in Yemen constitute just one devastating example. Committing to submit the Arms Trade Treaty to the US Senate for ratification would be a major step forward.

Reinvigorate international cooperation
Rather than reject international rules and withdraw from international organizations and agreements, the US should use its influence to improve them. The next President must be clear that human rights, gender justice, and the empowerment of civil society should be at the heart of multilateral cooperation.

Use trade to fight poverty, inequality, and climate change
Trade can be a powerful tool to fight poverty and climate change while creating jobs in the US and other countries. But many trade agreements benefit multinational corporations at the expense of working people. The next President should pursue trade deals that produce shared economic, social, and environmental gains as well as encourage the cooperative resolution of conflicts. Special privileges for pharmaceutical companies and large investors should be dropped.

Work with partners to crack down on corruption
Corruption robs people in the developing world of billions of dollars every year. The next President must work with Congress to pass legislation, such as the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Act, to crack down on the use of anonymous shell companies by corrupt officials and criminal networks. The next President must also appoint SEC commissioners who will ensure a strong Section 1504 rule to require oil and mining companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments is proposed and approved.