20th World Congress: From Hiroshima to Future Generations
Hiroshima, Japan
24 August 2012
The A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima
On the historic occasion of IPPNW’s 20th World Congress, we are witnessing a sea change in global demand for a world free of nuclear weapons and free of the threat they pose to human survival. An emergent movement focused on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons is bringing States and civil society together as partners in working for a global treaty to ban and eliminate the most abhorrent weapons ever created.
We are equally encouraged by the growing demand for action to arrest the global crisis of armed violence that kills hundreds of thousands of people and maims millions more every year in countries around the world. The prevention of war is a public health imperative that extends from the carnage inflicted by small arms and light weapons to the extinction of humanity itself in a nuclear war. These signs of change are cause for hope that the international community can create a healthier, more peaceful future, where human security is based upon mutual respect and cooperation rather than the force of arms. Read more…
A walk through Hiroshima
By Mathias Pollock
As I sat reading John Hersey’s recounting of individual experiences in his book Hiroshima on the transpacific flight, I was struck by how much the event sounded like a natural disaster. It was a horrible event that devastated an innocent civilian population. But unlike tsunamis, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, this wasn’t unfortunate chance- this was preventable. Read more…
Hiroshima a living symbol of world we must protect
By Ira Helfand
Walking from the Hiroshima bus station to the Conference Center, the path goes directly past the A-Bomb Dome and the hypocenter, the point directly beneath the where the bomb went off. Ground Zero. It is a little after 8 AM on a hot August morning, so like that other August morning 67 years ago. I keep looking up at the sky as so many thousands of people did that other morning, and I imagine the sudden bright flash that was the last thing they ever saw. Read more…
Medical/humanitarian focus at heart of ICAN
By Ira Helfand
ICAN meeting began this morning. Extraordinarily exciting presentation of the progress ICAN has made to date. In just 5 years since its inception, the campaign has succeeded in making a Nuclear Weapons Convention a mainstream issue throughout the world (if not yet here in the US…).
In 2010, for the first time, a call for a nuclear weapons convention was included in the summary statement issued by the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Now, just 2 years later, 147 nations support a nuclear weapons convention according to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.
While the campaign now includes organizations beyond IPPNW, the medical/humanitarian focus which PSR and IPPNW bring to this movement remains the heart of its message. At the NPT prep conference in Vienna this May 16 nations issued a joint statement calling for the humanitarian consequence of nuclear war to be the central consideration in international negotiations about nuclear weapons. The Norwegian government is convening an international conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear war March 4 and 5 2013 which it hopes will reframe the debate about nuclear weapons and lead to a nuclear weapons convention.
Arriving in Hiroshima for the 20th World Congress
[IPPNW’s 20th World Congress opens in Hiroshima, Japan on August 24. A number of people will be blogging from the Congress, including members of the US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility. Those pieces will be published on the PSR blog and reposted here.]
By Andy Kanter
It seems a little strange returning to Japan after 23 years. I attended the Ninth World Congress of IPPNW which was held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1989. I was a medical student at the time. I had been Medical Student Liaison for IPPNW in 1985 when we won the Nobel Peace Prize, but it had been several years since I left the central office and was nearing the end of my medical school training. IPPNW still meant a lot to me and I endeavored to make the protection of the planet one of my primary goals in life. Since graduating from medical school and traveling the world, I have returned to the US and have been working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals at the Earth Institute, and have continued with my advocacy work with PSR in Chicago and currently New York City. Now, as current President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, I return to Japan and the 20th World Congress of IPPNW!
In some ways the world is very different now. There are even more threats to our very existence. In our highly integrated and interdependent ecosystem, we continue to threaten everything with nuclear extinction. But now we can add climate change, toxic degradation and even nuclear famine to the list of ills that we must solve if we are to survive. I return to Japan with the toxic legacy of Fukushima still smoldering to the northeast. Its radioactive poisons will leech out for decades to come. And I return to Japan as a new father, contemplating the future not only of the Japanese people, but the future of everyone including my son. The situation seems very bleak and the future dark. But I have hope, and believe that we will come together to turn things around.
World Congresses are an important time to come together and take stock of the situation, revitalize ourselves and gain strength from the common bonds which bring together our global community of IPPNW affiliates. We have a busy week planned, with a meeting of the ICAN movement on Tuesday, followed by the medical student congress on Wednesday and Thursday and the full congress on Friday through Sunday. On Friday afternoon, I will be giving a workshop with PSR President-Elect, Jeff Patterson and PSR Board member, Ed Ifft on a critical review of the nuclear-industrial complex by looking at the 3 poisonous “P’s” (Pollution, Proliferation, and Price) of the nuclear age. Following the Congress, several PSR members, including myself, will be traveling to Tokyo to take part in a side-meeting on the Fukushima Daiichi situation.
I am excited to see old friends, learn new skills, and help to add new energy which will help catalyze a fundamental shift in our planet’s history. Stay tuned for more from Hiroshima and Japan.
by Bob Mtonga, MD, Shannon Gearhart, MD, Don Mellman, MD
The ATT discussion collapsed in the mid-afternoon of July 27, the final day, when the US delegation head, Tom Countryman, announced the US needed “more time” to study the treaty. Then Russia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), and Canada followed with similar statements. According to Jeff Abramson, director of the Control Arms secretariat, the president of the ATT negotiations conference Ambassador Moritan reportedly had the promise of the ATT skeptics (i.e. DPRK, Cuba, etc.) to not block the passage and thus was “furious” (Jeff’s word) at the US. The reason(s) for the US final position remain unclear but media reports suggest it could be pressure from the NRA and/or the appearance of weakness in foreign affairs in this election year. We still need to learn more from them and their public answers are insufficient. (I am on multiple US State Department list serves and have copied and pasted its 07/28/2012 press release re the ATT below. – dlm) Read more…
Note from Maria Valenti: IPPNW Austria and Zambia have teamed up on a Victim Assistance Pilot Clinic project in Lusaka, Zambia. This blog reports on the training day for medical students organized and conducted by Drs. Michael Schober and Stephanie Hametner, IPPNW Austrian physician leaders of the project. Dr. Bob Mtonga is the Zambia investigator on the project.
by Barbara Larcher, medical student, IPPNW Austria
Preparation Day – Linz, Austria
Sunday, 8 July, 9.15 o clock in front of the train station in Linz: a group of medical students from Vienna, Graz and Innsbruck meet. Very few know each other beforehand, but the ice is broken quickly – after all, we all share the same goal: the participation in the Victim Assistance Pilot Project of IPPNW Austria/Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia. Read more…
Home Stretch of ATT Negotiations
by Bob Mtonga MD and Don Mellman MD MPH
“We are on the home stretch. The finish tape is in sight, but it is blurred.”
-Bob Mtonga, MD, Co-President, IPPNW, July 21, 2012
Comments from Bob Mtonga MD
I have been working hard these past weeks including as a member of the Zambian delegation to help successfully conclude the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) next Friday, July 27. (Bob is a true leader in this process, and has brought very favorable recognition to himself and IPPNW. – dlm) Some of what I have done:
- Worked behind the scenes with Norway and Sweden to mobilize 73 states to issue a common statement that emphasized the three things that must be included in the ATT without negotiation:
- Small arms and light weapons, and ammunition,
- “Gender-based violence,” and
- Specific reference to International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. (N.B. IHL is the law of war that relates to the treatment of those not in the fighting, “hors de combat.” To be “hors de combat,” one must be in the power of an adverse Party, clearly expresses an intention to surrender, has been rendered unconscious or is otherwise incapacitated by wounds or sickness, and therefore is incapable of defending himself; provided that in any of these cases he abstains from any hostile act and does not attempt to escape. Human Rights Law is the law of peacetime and refers to the treatment of the citizens of a state by its government or non-states actors. dlm and Wikipedia)
(The actual statement can be found below the comments.) Read more…
While the Arms Trade Treaty Diplomatic Conference moves into its last week of month-long negotiations at the UN in New York and state delegates work to draft a treaty text, IPPNW members continue to actively participate with hundreds of other NGOs to urge for a strong and humanitarian-based ATT, which we hope will ultimately save lives and improve health worldwide.
At the same time, IPPNW doctors around the world are working on the ground to save lives and improve health today through a number of projects on armed violence prevention. Read more…
By Donald Mellman MD MPH, IPPNW member and delegate to the Arms Trade Treaty Diplomatic Conference at the United Nations, New York City
(N.B.: The described events are as I perceived them. All opinions are my own, and are (probably) not those of anyone else. – dlm)
Some thoughts
- The ATT is like a four- act play, one act per week, with a cast of hundreds – many of whom are at a distance, such as in a capital. This first week was notable for:
- Intrigue: the proceedings were delayed for a day and a half asEgypt attempted to elevate the status ofPalestine within the UN for these negotiations. The resolution: The Holy See was not allowed to participate (I don’t understand it either.). Rumors abounded; including Hillary Clinton calling Egypt and the EU calling Ramallah
- Tragedy: The Chair, Garcia Moritán from Argentina, presented his thoughts in a paper as suggestions for a starting point for the negotiations. The paper was felt by many in the NGO community to be watered-down from that of July of last year. Ambassador Moritán said people may not like it – he was right. Read more…
IPPNW peace and health blog 