Ed Cairns
Senior Policy Adviser, Research
Edmund currently leads on Oxfam GB's humanitarian advocacy research, and has been involved in Oxfam's advocacy on most of the biggest humanitarian crises since the early 1990s.
He has worked as Oxfam's Head of the Humanitarian and Security Issues Team from 2000 to 2005, Emergencies Manager in the Humanitarian Department, and Oxfam's first Programme Officer in Moscow in 1992, amongst other roles.
His key publications include A Safer Future (1997) and For a Safer Tomorrow (2008) as well as numerous Oxfam briefing papers on humanitarian, peace and security issues, including Oxfam's Genocide in Rwanda paper in April 1994, one of the first condemnations of the genocide and calls for international action to halt it.
His latest paper, Crises in a New World Order: Challenging the Humanitarian Project is a call to build Southern capacity to respond to humanitarian need.
In the age of austerity it may seem that governments can do nothing but make cuts. But they can still legislate and regulate, and try to make the market work for the public good. In the last few years, some of them have been doing precisely that in the most deadly market of all: the arms trade. From Latin America to Europe, and through three separate regional agreements in Africa, there has been an array of new regulations on the arms trade.... Read more
When it comes to humanitarian crises, Oxfam specialises in the appropriate acronym of 'WASH' (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Promotion ).
In 2011, hundreds of Oxfam staff delivered water and sanitation and other relief to millions of people afflicted by drought, floods or earthquakes. But in much of the world, a growing proportion of our humanitarian aid flows through local organisations, and this proportion is rising rapidly.... Read more