[The IPPNW Board has issued the following statement on the tragic conflict in Syria.]
IPPNW firmly believes that chemical weapons, and any weapon of mass destruction, should never be used, and existing stockpiles should be eliminated in line with the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Chemical weapons are banned because of their capacity to cause indiscriminate deaths in large numbers, extreme suffering and long-term disability. It is essential that whatever stockpiles of chemical weapons exist in Syria are maintained in a safe condition prior to their final elimination, which should be achieved as rapidly as possible. A cessation of hostilities would provide a much more favourable context for this to happen.
We call on all parties involved in the present conflict in Syria to ensure that any existing stockpiles of chemical weapons are placed under safeguards and that there is no intentional use, or threat of use, whatever the circumstances. UN weapons inspectors must be allowed full, safe and timely access to investigate suspected chemical weapons use. If the facts determine that chemical weapons have been used, then those who used them should be brought before the International Criminal Court and held accountable for crimes against humanity.
We call on all sides to cooperate with the UN and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria in his quest to resolve the present conflict through dialogue. The present suffering of civilians in areas controlled by the government and by the opposition forces is unacceptable and a ceasefire needs to be negotiated as soon as possible.
IPPNW demands free and safe access of the population to medical care. To make medical facilities and personnel a target of violence is unacceptable and a gross violation of international humanitarian law.
We urge all parties to the civil war in Syria to engage in negotiations to resolve the conflict. We demand from all countries and parties outside Syria that they stop delivering weapons into Syria.
Clinging to mass violence
Is the human race determined to snuff itself out through mass violence? There are many signs that it is.
The most glaring indication lies in the continued popularity of war. Despite well over a hundred million deaths in World Wars I and II, plus the brutal military conflicts in Korea, Indochina, Hungary, Algeria, Lebanon, Angola, Mozambique, the Philippines, the Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, wars continue to rage across the globe, consuming vast numbers of lives and resources. In 2012, worldwide military spending reached $1.75 trillion. Moreover, the most lavish spenders for weaponry, war, and destruction were the supposedly “civilized” nations of NATO, with $1 trillion in military expenditures. By far the biggest military spender in 2012 was the United States, which accounted for 39 percent of the world total. Read more…
Dr. Omolade Oladejo, IPPNW Nigeria, addresses delegates to the UN ATT 4th Prepcom, while Chairman Moritan (L) looks on.
Yesterday, on August 12th, Nigeria became the 82nd UN Member State to sign the Arms Trade Treaty, and the 3rd to ratify the landmark agreement. Foreign Minister Dr. Olugbenga Ashiru signed and deposited Nigeria’s instrument of ratification at the UN in New York. Read more…
“100 nuclear blasts = worldwide starvation”
IPPNW’s nuclear famine message was carried on signs during a march from Cambridge City Hall to Harvard Square, where they provided a backdrop to Ira Helfand’s impassioned plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Photo: John Loretz
IPPNW Co-president Ira Helfand explains the medical and humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons at a Hiroshima Day memorial gathering in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 6. Dr. Helfand asked the participants to sign a petition urging President Obama to make good on his pledge to pursue a world without nuclear weapons. Photo: John Loretz
Hiroshima Peace Declaration
[The Mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, issued the following declaration today, August 6, 2013, the 68th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima.]
The city of Hiroshima lay in ruins after the US atomic bombing on August 6, 1945—68 years ago today.
We greet the morning of the 68th return of “that day.” At 8:15 a.m., August 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb erased an entire family. “The baby boy was safely born. Just as the family was celebrating, the atomic bomb exploded. Showing no mercy, it took all that joy and hope along with the new life.”
A little boy managed somehow to survive but the atomic bomb took his entire family. This A-bomb orphan lived through hardship, isolation, and illness, but was never able to have a family of his own. Today, he is a lonely old hibakusha. “I have never once been glad I survived,” he says, looking back. After all these years of terrible suffering, the deep hurt remains. Read more…
IDPD assists flood victims
by Arun Mitra, IDPD General Secretary
Sending medical supplies by ropeway over the flooded Ganges
The Uttrakhand state in the Himalayas, in North India, had flash floods in June. The disaster was so high that the government estimates deaths of about 4,000 people, while unofficial figures claim more than 25,000 people have died.
IPPNW’s Indian affiliate—Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD)—took a medical relief team to the disaster-affected area on 7 July and stayed there for a week. The situation was so bad that we had to climb up the hills 7-8 kilometers or cross the Ganges river on ropeways carrying medicines with us to reach the affected people. There were constant landslides and at one place we were stranded for nine hours. Somehow we were successful and have returned safe.
In context of this experience, our commitment for a nuclear-weapon-free world is further strengthened, as we will not be able to provide any relief should nuclear weapons ever be used.
Arun Mitra (right) led an IDPD team to flood-ravaged Uttrakhand
Assisting flood victims in Uttrakhand was challenging; medical and humanitarian relief for the victims of nuclear war would be impossible.
Stumbling in the dark, reaching for the light
IPPNW Co-President Tilman Ruff has written an important, very thoughtful essay on the links between nuclear weapons abolition and human rights for Right Now, an Australian not-for-profit media outlet.
Referring to the three existential threats to life on Earth—collision with another celestial body; environmental degradation, particularly global warming; and the use of nuclear weapons—Dr. Ruff writes that two of the three have human origins and require human solutions:
In addressing such momentous challenges, we need wisdom from all cultures, faiths and ethical traditions; lessons, insights, tools and perspectives from every field of human endeavor; and the recognition that whatever our core business, eradicating nuclear weapons is part of everyone’s business. Like respect for universal human rights, like addressing global warming on the scale and urgency demanded. Nuclear weapons are a critical human rights issue; the most urgent development issue; the paramount sustainability issue; potentially the most egregious violation of international humanitarian law; the most urgent environmental issue; the most profound ethical issue; the greatest blasphemy.”
“Were the Universal Declaration of Human Rights being drafted today,” he concludes,
one would hope that additional rights would be front and centre: the right to live free from the threat of indiscriminate, inhumane weapons, most of all nuclear weapons; the rights of future generations; the rights of people everywhere to access benign, renewable energy sources; and to be protected from preventable, indiscriminate, transgenerational radioactive contamination. These human rights urgently need to become prominent in the global human rights agenda.”
[Ilkka and Vappu Taipale visited Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon in July 2013, by invitation of the chair of the Lambaréné Hospital Executive Board, Lachlan Forrow. Dr. Forrow, a former executive director of IPPNW, is now Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The Taipales were deeply moved to see the museum hospital once run by one of the medical heroes of their youth, Albert Schweitzer, and refreshed their knowledge of Schweitzer’s relationship to the nuclear issue.]
By Vappu Taipale and Ilkka Taipale
Do young people know Albert Schweitzer?
He was the hero of the youth in the 50´s and 60´s, one of the great humanists of the world, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, an opponent of nuclear bombs. His hospital, Lambaréné, celebrated its centennial July 6-7, 2013 with a high-level applied research symposium on the triple epidemic HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. Read more…
Nearly a quarter century after the disappearance of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the US government is still getting ready for nuclear war.
This fact was underscored on June 19, 2013, when the Pentagon, on behalf of President Barack Obama, released a report to Congress outlining what it called the US government’s “Nuclear Employment Strategy.” Although the report indicated some minor alterations in US policy, it exhibited far more continuity than change. Read more…
[On June 18, 2013, IPPNW Co-President Ira Helfand participated in an unprecedented debate about nuclear weapons in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. At an event organized by ICAN-Israel and the Israeli Disarmament Movement, Dr. Helfand presented the scientific findings about the global climate effects of a limited nuclear war, and made a compelling case for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The next day, he traveled to Ankara, where he gave a similar talk about nuclear famine and the medical consequences of nuclear war to the Turkish parliament. The following is Dr. Helfand’s report.]
by Ira Helfand
Must-see video!: Dr. Ira Helfand debates nuclear abolition with a member of Israel’s Likud Party in the Knesset.
Sharon Dolev, the ICAN campaigner in Israel, and the Director of the Israeli Disarmament Movement (RPM), ICAN’s partner organization in Israel, organized an enormously successful series of events to publicbize the nuclear famine report, build support for the upcoming Mexico conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, and promote a WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East.
The centerpiece of the event was a discussion of these issues, including open discussion of Israel’s nuclear arsenal, in the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset. 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 