A global petition to reject war and nuclear weapons - signed by more than 1,071,000 citizens worldwide - was delivered at United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 12.
Launched by IPPNW and 17 other Nobel Peace Laureates on the social media platform Avaaz, the open letter calls for "an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Russian military forces from Ukraine, and for all possible efforts at dialogue to prevent this ultimate disaster." The petition further calls on Russia and NATO "to explicitly renounce any use of nuclear weapons in this conflict, and ... call[s] on all countries to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to ensure that we never again face a similar moment of nuclear danger."
Publicizing these risks has been IPPNW's priority throughout the crisis.The good news is that major media outlets are more receptive to IPPNW's message than they have been in decades. IPPNW leaders have made numerous appearances on radio and television, including National Public Radio and Russia Today, and have placed scores of articles and op-eds in print media around the world. Engagement with IPPNW social media has spiked from 500-5,000 percent.
We have also mobilized the international community behind our demands for a swift end to the war, an explicit pledge by Russia and NATO that they will not use nuclear weapons in the current conflict, and that they join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). More than 1,071,000 concerned citizens so far have signed our joint call with His Holiness The Dalai Lama and 17 other Nobel Peace Laureates (see page 1). In March we organized a joint statemeant on the war by IPPNW physicians in Russia and Ukraine and another with our international health partners, the World Medical Association, the World Federation of Public Health Associations, and the International Federation of Medical Students Associations. IPPNW helped to end the first Cold War by fostering an East-West dialogue among physicians. Renewing that work is as important as ever.Today, an intimate group of Russian and American medical students and young doctors continue to meet regularly on Zoom, despite the war. Dr. Jim Muller, one of our IPPNW's US founders, joined long-time Russian
IPPNW leader Dr. Sergev Kolesnikov in addressing the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences on the eve of the war and the Russian Academy of Sciences after the invasion.
If we are lucky enough to survive this world-wide near death experience, we need to regard it as a wake-up call to dismantle the system of global "security" that threatens to extinguish everything that we love and cherish in this world. The madness has to stop.
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