Humanitarian consequences

On June 6th, we at Pressenza premiered our latest documentary film, “The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons”.  For this film, we interviewed 14 people, experts in their fields, who were able to provide insight into the history of…

Co-president Tilman Ruff addressed the Open-Ended Working Group on nuclear weapons on May 13 in Geneva, on behalf of IPPNW’s Australian affiliate, MAPW, and ICAN. His remarks follow: Given some views expressed here in recent days, I feel a medical…

Human Wrongs Watch Condemning the demolition by Israeli authorities of the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the West Bank, a senior United Nations relief official on 7 January 2016 called on Israel to end such destruction and halt its plans…

By John Loretz, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. When this NPT Review Conference began, I wrote that the outcome would depend on how seriously the humanitarian impacts initiative and the Austrian Pledge were taken up by the…

“We were waist deep in the Big Muddy. The big fool said to push on.” — Pete Seeger The NPT member states have to choose between two irreconcilable narratives, and the success of the 2015 Review Conference depends upon their…

In the two-day international conference on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons in Vienna on the 8th and 9th of December 2014, Dr. Helen Durham, Director of International Law and Policy for the International Committee of the Red Cross, was…

Ray Acheson, Beatrice Fihn, and Katherine Harrison* “Nayarit is a point of no return,” concluded the Chair of the Second Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, held from 13–14 February in Nayarit, Mexico. In his summary of the…

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the 1985 Nobel Peace Laureate, and its US affiliate Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) today released a new report concluding that more than two billion people—a quarter of the world’s population—would…

The global Red Cross and Red Crescent movement today reiterated its deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and adopted a four-year action plan towards ensuring that nuclear weapons are never used again. The…

At the NPT prepcom in Geneva today, South Africa presented a statement on behalf of 74 states highlighting the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons.  Pressenza publishes the statement in full here. Delivered by Ambassador Abdul Samad Minty, Permanent Representative of…