Address to the conference "Imagining the Real : Life on a Greenhouse Earth" held at ANU, Canberra in June 2008. Dr Wareham presented some reasons that nuclear power is not the solution to climate change; and emphasised a second inconvenient truth . . . 26,000 nuclear weapons, which must be abolished. Dr Sue Wareham OAM is President of MAPW. 

The Asia Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition (APDSE) is an arms fair. It will be held in Adelaide from 11-13 November 2008. It provides military companies from all over the world with an opportunity to display and sell their latest war fighting machinery. It opens, inappropriately, on Remembrance Day. This introductory flyer sets out some basic facts.

In Dublin between 19 May and 28 May, 110 governments negotiated a new international treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, that will ban cluster munitions that “cause unacceptable harm to civilians”. The treaty bans all the cluster munitions that have been extensively used. This article by Dr Mark Zirnsak, National Coordinator for the Australian Network to Ban Landmines, analyses the outcome, and the Australian government's role.

Flyer for a public meeting on Friday 13 June 2008, at Belgrave, in Melbourne's outer east, on US bases, indigenous self-determination and Australia's links to regional militarisation. Speakers are two indigenous Chamoru activists campaigning against US plans to move thousands of marines from Okinawa to Guam.

MAPW was invited to speak at Melbourne's Alternative Anzac Day commemoration on 25 April 2008. Nancy Atkin read a message from IPPNWi Turkey and a poem from David Menkes of IPPNW New Zealand; and commented briefly on the rapidly escalating human costs of war, over the last 100 years.

An international treaty to ban cluster bombs will be negotiated in Dublin on 19 – 30 May 2008. Australia is among a group of countries seeking to "water down" this important treaty in several significant ways. This Uniting Church resource is to assist people to write to the government urging support for the full treaty. It contains further details on the process, suggested points for a letter, and the relevant addresses.

MAPW member Dr W.M.Castleden is Chair of Doctors for the Environment. His submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review discussed the carbon emissions of the military, and suggested that reducing defence budgets and promoting peaceable co-existence should form part of the global response to climate change. (This two-page document contains the relevant portions).

Flyer for alternative Anzac Day gathering, Friday morning 25 April in East Melbourne. Brief presentations followed by light lunch.

MAPW's submission to the Australian Government’s 2020 summit, in April 2009, was prepared by MAPW President Dr Sue Wareham. It discusses three areas of concern: nuclear weapons; war as a response to terrorism; and our future security.

Doctors for Iraq Press Release, Baghdad, 14 April 2008

Doctors for Iraq has received reports from the Imam Ali hospital in Sadar City, Baghdad, of dozens of civilian casualties following US military air strikes on the densely populated neighbourhood east of Baghdad.

Paper from IPPNWi XIIIth World Congress 1998

1996 Nobel Peace prize Co-Laureate Jose Ramos Horta presents several key issues including human rights, justice, reconciliation and peace, in relation to East Timor "as a footnote of the Cold War" from its invasion in 1975 by Indonesia.

Necdet Ipekyuz of the Turkish Medical Association outlines the fundamental issue that regions "where armed conflict is ongoing receives assistance in the form of health, educational equipment, food and clothing from various NGOi's. There isn't enough effort being put into practice in bringing about a peaceful solution to the armed conflict". A paper presented at the IPPNWi World Congress, 1998.

Ullrich Gottstein's slide presentation demonstrates the vast impacts on the Iraqi people after 1990, including issues of food, education, casualties and more. He visited Iraq in 1998.

A report on the impacts on children used in armed conflict world wide, by Henrik Häggström of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

Nobel Peace Laureates’ committment for peace, justice and the elimination of all nuclear weapons, signed in Oslo, December 10, 2001.

This report prepared by Friends of the Earth (FoEi)  and supported by MAPW and other groups critiques the argument that nuclear power is a solution to climate change, and documents its hazards for security, the environment and human health. (Summary: full report available at FoE website).

This 2007 MAPW report was written by MAPW doctors Hadia Mukhtar and Sue Wareham, with Phillip Salem from Australians for Lebanon. It documents the terrible legacy of cluster bombs in southern Lebanon as a result of the 2006 war, and makes recommendations for Australian action both to assist the survivors, and to prevent the use of these weapons in the future.

This 2004 report by MAPW President Dr Sue Wareham argues that the health and welfare of Australians have been sacrificed by policies that confuse security with military power, and divert funding from health care to killing. It compares in detail the Australian budget for military and other needs.

This MAPW poster was made using the Michael Leunig cartoon. We are grateful for the artist's generous permission.

Dr Rae-Wen Chang's 2007 paper discusses effects of recent conflicts on the health of the Iraqi population. A well referenced and comprehensive overview. Recommended reading.

Dr Ronald McCoy summarises Twentieth Century conflict, including the need for nuclear disarmament, the role of the UNi and International Law, and the causes for hope for our future, concluding with our need to "be committed to a culture of non-violence and the sanctity of life". Paper presented at the 1998 IPPNWi Congress.