PROGRAM DIRECTOR S REPORT to the IPPNW Board of Directors September 30 October 2, 2005

Transcription

1 PROGRAM DIRECTOR S REPORT to the IPPNW Board of Directors September 30 October 2, 2005 SUBMITTED BY JOHN LORETZ, PROGRAM DIRECTOR Since the Beijing Congress in September 2004, IPPNW and its affiliates have engaged in numerous national, regional, and global activities to advance our nuclear abolition and war prevention goals, as articulated by the Board in the following list of priorities for the federation in : NPT Review (Mayors for Peace, Abolition Now!) *** 2. Small Arms Violence *** 3. South Asia ** 4. Iraq Health Monitoring Project ** 5. Dialogues with Decision-Makers ** 6. Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Project * 7. ECOSOC Submission * 8. Nuclear Energy * 9. Depleted Uranium * *** = highest requirement for Central Office staff time ** = significant requirement for Central Office staff time * = low requirement for Central Office staff time This report is organized to reflect accomplishments in each of these areas, to evaluate our success in addressing these Board-mandated priorities, and to provide some guidance for Board discussion about future directions NPT Review (Mayors for Peace, Abolition Now!) As a lead up to the 2005 NPT Review in May, Central Office staff and numerous affiliates worked with both the Mayors For Peace and Abolition Now! in coordinated campaigns to obtain mayoral endorsements for Vision 2020 and thousands of signatures on a global petition that were delivered to NPT Review Chair Duarte at the UN. IPPNW activists in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the US helped add to the total of more than 600 cities whose mayors have signed the Appeal. We have had ongoing communication with Mayor Akiba and the M4P coordinators to ensure that our participation in the campaign has been both substantial and visible. IPPNW participated in MPI s Second Atlanta Consultation on the NPT, held at the Carter Center in Atlanta at the end of February. On May 1, IPPNW members marched under the banner of the German affiliate as part of a "No Nukes, No War" demonstration that drew an estimated 40,000 people to New York's Central park. Co-President Ron McCoy addressed the crowd, as did PGS Executive Director Debbie Grisdale and Swedish medical student Jenny Immerstrand. Page 1 of 6

2 More than 20 IPPNW representatives from at least eight countries including both Co- Presidents attended the four-week Review, at which IPPNW organized three briefings and panel discussions for Treaty delegates and NGOs: 1) a panel on disarmament education and the Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Project, presented by medical students; 2) a PSR briefing on challenges to the NPT regime with Thomas Graham and Richard Rhodes; and a second PSR briefing on nuclear terrorism, nuclear energy, and Article IV, with Tariq Rauf of the IAEA and Andrew Kanter. IPPNW members from Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden joined delegations from their own countries in visits to embassies and UN permanent missions to press for full compliance with both the disarmament and the non-proliferation obligations of the NPT. During the first week of the Review, IPPNW medical students Stefanie Berkmann and Inga Blum (Germany), Shannon Gearhardt (USA), and Jenny Immerstrand (Sweden), organized three "Target X" installations in Times Square, talking with hundreds of pedestrians and tourists about the medical consequences of nuclear war and IPPNW s abolition message. IPPNW s most important and sustained contribution to the NGO presence at the Review was its participation in the planning and drafting of the statements presented to the delegates during a formal, three-hour NGO session on May 11. John Loretz and Xanthe Hall were the primary IPPNW representatives on a drafting committee that worked on and on conference calls over a period of several months to produce more than a dozen papers focusing on Article VI compliance, the 13 Steps, nuclear energy and reprocessing, nonproliferation concerns, and other topics. (In addition, Michael Christ particpated in the Middle Powers Initiative s Second Atlanta Consultation, whose recommendations became the basis of those submitted to the Review by the NGOs.) Xanthe drafted and read a brilliant introductory statement; John coordinated the preparation of the final recommendations document. IPPNW helped to organize two press NGO conferences: the first to present the NGO recommendations; the second to evaluate the outcome of the Review. The Review was almost universally characterized as a failure, despite the largest and best organized civil society presence in the Treaty s history. In fact, NGOs were systematically marginalized and prevented from interacting with state delegations at the same time that obstructionist tactics by the US and a small number of other states were undermining the goals of the Review itself. Frustration over this outcome has led to the proposals for a parallel process for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. In planning this campaign, we will have to take into account the proven intransigence of the nuclear weapon states and the capacity of the US, in particular, to ignore and dismiss the views of NGOs and public critics of its security policies. 2. Small Arms Violence IPPNW s Aiming for Prevention campaign has mobilized doctors, medical students, and other health providers in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia to document the devastating human impact of small arms and to advocate policy reform. Campaign coordinator Maria Valenti has been the driving force behind this campaign, helping affiliate researchers and activists communicate effectively and share resources; ensuring IPPNW s visible and substantial presence at major SALW conferences; acting as the principal IPPNW liaison with IANSA; developing campaign materials; and raising the funds necessary to support this restricted program. SECTION IV: PROGRAM REPORTS - PROGRAM Page 2 of 6 DIRECTOR S REPORT

3 Among the most significant campaign accomplishments since Beijing (see accompanying report for details) have been an extremely successful delegation to the UN Programme of Action Biennial Meeting of States in July 2005; the launch of the new IANSA Public Health Network (with Robert Mtonga as Medical Field Director); the initiation and development of a multinational pilot study on small arms injuries; and numerous research, education, and advocacy activities undertaken by affiliates in campaign countries. Aiming For Prevention, like the landmines campaign before it, has carved out an exciting and successful programmatic role for affiliates from the Global South, while creating opportunities for affiliates in the Global North to collaborate in everything from fundraising to project implementation. The campaign has also enhanced IPPNW s visibility and reputation among NGOs that deal with human security problems outside the nuclear war framework. Bridging these two campaign areas so that the unique aspects of each one can nevertheless be seen to derive from an overarching IPPNW mission, and so that lessons learned from one set of program activities can more easily be adapted in the other, is the objective of one of the workshops to be held during the Boston meeting. 3. South Asia IPPNW doctors and medical students from India and Pakistan met in Karachi on December 12, IDPD held its 7th national conference in Hyderabad in March, and hosted a South Asian Regional Seminar on Peace, Health and Development in Patna in August. In addition to its ongoing communications with, and support for, affiliate activities in the region, the Central Office hosted IDPD President L. S. Chawla during a visit to Boston in August, to discuss campaigning opportunities and IDPD s proposal to host the 2008 Congress in Delhi. Using data and analysis developed by IPPNW over the years, IPPNW-Central India has produced a Powerpoint presentation on the human and environmental effects of nuclear weapons. Drs. Nalini and Balkrishna Kurvey have used this resource to educate hundreds of physicians, medical students, military people, and politicians for whom they have organized numerous workshops and seminars. This December, Indian and Pakistani physicians, accompanied by international IPPNW leaders, will return to Delhi and Islamabad for a new series of Dialogues With Decision Makers. A South Asian regional conference is planned for Kathmandu, Nepal in February South Asia will continue to be a high priority region not only for IPPNW s nuclear abolition campaigning, but for our small arms activities and overall war prevention mission, as well. Strategic consideration should be given to how this next series of meetings up to and including the proposed Delhi Congress can be used to advance the entire range of IPPNW s programmatic objectives in an integrated way. 4. Iraq Health Monitoring Project IPPNW assisted Medact with the global release of its third report on the Iraq war Enduring Effects of War - Health in Iraq 2004 by affiliates in Australia, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the US. We provided advance copies of the report to all affiliate contacts and encouraged them to translate the report into their own languages. Working with PSR staff, we distributed the report and media talking points to all PSR chapters in the US. 5. Dialogues with Decision-Makers An IPPNW delegation including Sergei Kolesnikov (RPPNW), Frida Sundberg (SLMK), and Liz Waterston (Medact) met at NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 14 with representatives from the departments of Nuclear Policy and WMD. While not strictly a DWD meeting, a delegation went to IAEA headquarters in Vienna on November 4, 2004 to discuss Page 3 of 6

4 prospects for a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East and continuing medical problems from the Chernobyl disaster. DWDM sessions are planned for Washington, DC in October (following the Boston Board meeting); London on October 26; Paris on October 27; December 7 in Islamabad; and December 12 in Delhi. The role of future DWDM meetings in relation to the Nuclear Weapons Convention campaign and IPPNW s advovacy work in general is an open question that needs to be taken up by the Board. Should the Dialogues be recast as a more active lobbying tool? If so, in what ways? Is it possible to balance a more assertive, persuasive approach to decision makers with the benefits to be gained from the less confrontational Oxford Research Group model? Are we satisfied with the levels of access we ve been able to attain in recent years, or should we be striving for meetings with more senior decision makers? Who should be participating in the IPPNW delegations? Are there parallel activities that could be coordinated with the DWDM meetings to enhance their impact? The affiliate and staff organizers of the Dialogues would benefit greatly from Board guidance on these and related questions. 6. NWIP The Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Project has continued to reinvigorate the medical student movement and, in fact, the international physicians movement as a whole in the year since the Beijing Congress. In addition to the workshops held at the NPT Review in May, NWIP teams organized trainings at several colleges and universities in Moscow and St, Petersburg in March and April; conducted three workshops at the Student PSR National Conference in Chicago in March; engaged in dialogues with medical students from Nagpur, Patna, Karachi, and Islamabad in August; and held a special session at NATO headquarters in mid-september. The Target X project, which has evolved out of the NWIP, is an especially creative student initiative, with a great deal of potential for public education, outreach, and media. 7. ECOSOC Submission This project was cancelled. Vic Sidel and John Loretz communicated frequently during the early part of 2005 in an effort to recruit others to the task of drafting an IPPNW paper on the Millennium Development Goals, but competing priorities (first and foremost, the NPT Review) and the inability of key people to participate left us without the capacity to produce a credible paper. 8. Nuclear Energy IPPNW joined other NGOs in criticizing the links between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons proliferation at the NPT Review, and in supporting proposals for an International Sustainable Energy Fund. IPPNW Germany, in coalition with other European NGOs, launched an international poster campaign in support of a Euro-petition to ban nuclear power. PSR has initiated a program that links sustainable (non-nuclear) energy development with security issues. Otherwise, this has remained a relatively low staff priority, although the potential still exists for a more broad-based federation program based on the work of the most active affiliates. Page 4 of 6

5 9. Depleted Uranium The DU working group has not been active since Beijing. Xanthe Hall has continued to represent IPPNW on the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons. The Central Office continues to receive occasional requests for information about DU and appeals for IPPNW endorsement of DU statements and initiatives by others. We address these primarily by referring the questioner to inidividuals or organizations that have active DU campaigns. Other Activities Hiroshima/Nagasaki Anniversaries Although not formally included among the Board-approved program priorities for 2005, numerous IPPNW activities were organized on the 60 th anniversaries of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and should receive at least brief mention in this report. Among others: Co-Presidents Ron McCoy and Gunnar Westberg joined Mayors Akiba and Itoh and the late Sir Joseph Rotblat in a World Appeal on the 60th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that was published in August. JPPNW hosted the 5 th North Asia Regional Meeting from August in Hiroshima, with the theme Towards the Earliest Possible Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. Affiliate conferences, seminars, and public lectures were held in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, India, Sweden, the UK, and the US. Other public events, including Target X installations, shadow projects, lantern ceremonies, concerts, media advertisements, and press conferences were organized by affiliates in Canada, Germany, Norway, and Turkey. On August 6, IPPNW Germany initiated a petition drive called "demobilize nuclear weapons - start in Germany," to continue through UN Disarmament Day (24 October). Delegation to DPRK A delegation of IPPNW physicians traveled to Pyongyang in August at the invitation of the DPRK affiliate, Korean Anti-Nuke Peace Physicians (KANPP). Co-President Gunnar Westberg and Hans Levander of Sweden, Lars Pohlmeier and Stephan Kolb of IPPNW Germany, and German medical student Lena Selig flew to the North Korean capital from Beijing at the conclusion of the 5 th North Asia Regional meeting in Hiroshima. The five-day fact-finding mission included a visit to Kim Man Yu hospital, where Gunnar and Hans gave medical lectures and Lena spoke about nuclear weapons, peace, her background in East Germany, and the experience unification, democracy, and freedom. The delegation met with Choe Chung Sikh, the Chair of KANPP and Vice Minister of Public Health and discussed a proposal for exchanges between Korean and German medical students. The group also met with representatives of the International Federation of Red Cross, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and staff members from the Swedish and German embassies. Website, Publications, Communications A new Communications Associate, Aki Morizono, in January, has devoted substantial more time and expertise to the design and maintenance of the IPPNW website. As a result, the site now has a cleaner, more professional appearance, is easier to navigate, and is being Page 5 of 6

6 updated much more frequently. We will continue to explore ways to use the website more effectively as both an external and an internal communications tool. Publication of Vital Signs resumed in May 2005 after a hiatus of nearly two years. The completely redesigned newsletter included updates on the Physicians Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free 21 st Century and Aiming For Prevention. A publication commemorating IPPNW s 25 th anniversary was produced in September. Aki created and managed an interactive, Web-based discussion board following the IPPNW Renewal retreat in London in February, which enabled retreat participants to discuss and prepare a series of recommendations to the Board. As a special project undertaken with SLMK, staff publicized to affiliates and other NGOs a new, Web-based educational resource about nuclear weapons effects that is housed on the SLMK website. Conferences, Meetings Central Office staff have participated in the following conferences and international meetings from September 2004 through September 2005: MPI Atlanta Consultation on the Future of the NPT, Atlanta, GA (26-28 January 2005) Reaching Nuclear Disarmament: New Challenges and Possibilities, Stockholm, Sweden (25-27 February 2005) 2005 NPT Review, United Nations (1-27 May 2005) 2nd Biennial Meeting of States on the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms (UNPoA) and Light Weapons, United Nations (10-16 July 2005) 5 th North Asia Regional Meeting, Hiroshima, Japan (20-21 August 2005) Health as a Bridge to Peace, Helsinki, Finland (7-9 September 2005) Page 6 of 6