Divergence and consensus at the OEWG
Understanding the code words of diplomacy
ICAN protest in front of Australian embassy during the OEWG. Photo: ICAN
Those of you who attempted to follow the discussion in real-time over the last two weeks at the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) at the United Nations in Geneva may have been non-plussed at the language in the speeches, especially if you were reading in the 140 character condensed form of Twitter posts. Those of us commenting and reporting from the “front-line” do our best not to overdo the acronyms and use plain speech, but it is easy to get sucked into diplo-speak. So here are a few personal definitions to help you understand what lies behind some of the frequently used code words in the many statements and in over sixty working papers submitted to the May session of the OEWG. Read more…
The right side of history
The gavel has come down on the May meetings of the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament and, to paraphrase our friend and colleague Carlos Umana, if democracy has anything to do with it, we’re only one or two steps away from negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Read more…
Democracy has come to nuclear disarmament
Carlos Umana of Costa Rica, at the ICAN campaigners meeting in Geneva preceding the OEWG.
[Carlos Umana, the president of IPPNW’s Costa Rican affiliate, spoke on behalf of IPPNW and ICAN at today’s meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group on nuclear disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva.]
Mr. Chairman,
Thank you for permitting me to take the floor. I speak on behalf of IPPNW Costa Rica, a partner organization of ICAN.
This OEWG attests to the fact that democracy has, indeed come to nuclear disarmament, as it is clear that the majority of nations are unsatisfied with the status quo and are ready to pursue truly effective measures conducive to nuclear disarmament. Echoing Jamaica’s statement today, “Yes, we can take forward multilateral negotiations.” Nuclear disarmament is feasible, if we work for it. And that is what we are here to do. Read more…
[IPPNW co-president Tilman Ruff delivered the following remarks to the UN Open-Ended Working Group taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, meeting in Geneva on May 4, 2016.]
IPPNW co-president Tilman Ruff addresses OEWG meeting in Geneva
The World Health Assembly is the global body of all your Ministers of Health or their most senior officials entrusted to safeguard the health of the population of every country in the world. When considering the first landmark World Health Organisation report on the effects of nuclear war on health and health services in 1983, they concluded that “nuclear weapons constitute the greatest immediate threat to the health and welfare of [hu]mankind”. That was 33 years ago. Read more…
IPPNW co-president Ira Helfand (second from left) addresses the Open-Ended Working Group in Geneva
[IPPNW co-president Ira Helfand was an expert panelist on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons at the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. Following are his opening remarks during the OEWG session on May 4, 2016, which began with remarks by Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow.]
Thank you Setsuko for your moving testament to the vast human suffering that the detonation of a nuclear weapon will produce.
And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to review with you today the medical consequences that will result from nuclear war. It is the belief of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the World Medical Association, the World Federation of Public Health Associations and the International Council of Nurses that a full understanding of the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, an understanding of what nuclear weapons will actually do when they are used, must lie at the core of policy discussion about what to do with these most dangerous of all weapons of mass and indiscriminate destruction. Read more…
Global health federations issue collective appeal for prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons
The leading international federations representing the world’s physicians, public health professionals, and nurses have told a special UN working group that the medical and scientific evidence about the consequences of nuclear weapons requires urgent action to prohibit and eliminate them as “the only course of action commensurate with the existential danger they pose.”
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the World Medical Association (WMA), the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) have submitted a joint working paper—“The health and humanitarian case for banning and eliminating nuclear weapons”—to the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG), which meets in Geneva this week and next to decide what new legal measures are needed to achieve nuclear disarmament. The OEWG will report back to the UN General Assembly later this year. Read more…
Zambians to Zambia leaders – Ratify the ATT!
BY Dr. Robert Mtonga, Zambian Healthworkers for Social Responsibility
The inertia-laden Zambian bureaucracy got a push recently from IPPNW-Zambia, Control Arms coalition partners and members of Zambian civil society to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Read more…
By Bimal Khadka, Nepal, IPPNW International Student Representative
Young doctors and medical students from throughout Asia overcame vast geographical boundaries, cultural barriers and financial difficulties to bring their ideas and energy to the first Asian IPPNW Youth Congress in Patna, India in March. 
We came from Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Mongolia, and Japan to join our Indian colleagues to discuss how we can use our medical expertise to advance heath through peace throughout the region. We were supported by observers from IPPNW Germany and many members of Indian doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) who were involved in smooth and fruitful discussions on many IPPNW topics. Read more…
The trillion dollar question
Isn’t it rather odd that America’s largest single public expenditure scheduled for the coming decades has received no attention in the 2015-2016 presidential debates?
The expenditure is for a thirty-year program to “modernize” the US nuclear arsenal and production facilities. Although President Obama began his administration with a dramatic public commitment to build a nuclear weapons-free world, that commitment has long ago dwindled and died. It has been replaced by an administration plan to build a new generation of US nuclear weapons and nuclear production facilities to last the nation well into the second half of the twenty-first century. This plan, which has received almost no attention by the mass media, includes redesigned nuclear warheads, as well as new nuclear bombers, submarines, land-based missiles, weapons labs, and production plants. The estimated cost? $1,000,000,000,000.00—or, for those readers unfamiliar with such lofty figures, $1 trillion. Read more…
IPPNW’s Dr. Bob Mtonga participated in a February 29th “Extraordinary Meeting” of states parties and observers to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that turned out to be quite ordinary.
The meeting was convened to discuss organizational issues including proposals for the administrative arrangements of the Secretariat, its structure, location, funding and confirmation of staffing positions, as well as cost estimates and location of the 2nd Conference of States Parties to the ATT (CSP2), to be held at the World Trade Centre in Geneva, Switzerland from 22–26 August 2016.
The Extra-ordinary Meeting however missed an opportunity to consider substantive items – such as possible violations of the Treaty by States Parties, including continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia. Read more…
Bimal Khadka
Bjorn Hilt
Charles K. Johnson
Gunnar Westberg
IPPNW
John Loretz
Lawrence Wittner
Maria Valenti
mollymcgint
Sue Wareham
Tilman Ruff
Tim Wright
Xanthe Hall
IPPNW peace and health blog 