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MAG envisions a society where fundamental human rights are upheld and protected at all times in accordance with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

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Statement

Medical Action Group (MAG) response to the nuclear test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

The abolition of nuclear weapons is a fundamental human right in a democratic world.

The Medical Action Group (MAG), a member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) is deeply concerned over the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DRPK).

As an organization of doctors and medical professionals in the Philippines, we deplore the production, testing, possession, deployment and use of nuclear weapons in view of their health and environmental effects.

The World Health Assembly adopted a resolution in 1983 asserting that “nuclear weapons constitute the greatest immediate threat to the health and survival of mankind.” The World Medical Association (WMA) condemned nuclear weapons in 1998, and just renewed its call for their elimination at the WMA annual meeting in Seoul, in October 2009.

In 1984 the United Nations Human Rights Committee noted that "It is evident that the designing, testing, manufacture, possession, deployment and use of nuclear weapons are among the greatest threats to the right to life which confront mankind today," and concluded that "The production, testing, possession, deployment and use of nuclear weapons should be prohibited and recognized as crimes against humanity."[1]

The nuclear war and security policy based on the capability to threaten the use of nuclear weapons is antithesis of health as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The actual human cost of the nuclear arms race will never be known. Many of the individual cases of health problems and deaths likely to be caused by the nuclear weapons cycle are difficult to link to it. Radioactive elements enter the body furtively and do their damage secretly leaving no business cards. They will continue their rampage until they are exhausted, which for some radioactive elements, will be over a hundred thousand years from now.

MAG with the IPPNW calls for increased contact and communication with the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and will work with our affiliate, the Korean Anti-Nuke Peace Physicians (KANPP) towards that end. We also call on all parties to show restraint so that this situation does not escalate into a military confrontation.

MAG is one with the IPPNW in the campaign for the elimination of all nuclear weapons and that “the double standard by which some states have claimed that nuclear weapons are essential to their security while denying that right to others is both reprehensible and unsustainable. The urgent need for a global nuclear-weapon-free zone through the negotiation and adoption of a Nuclear Weapons Convention is the real lesson of this unfortunate decision by a tragically isolated state.”

In solidarity,

Petronilo Pascual, M.D.

Chairperson

Medical Action Group

April 27, 2012

[1] Human Rights Committee General Comment 13 (23) on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, November 2, 1984.

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MEDIA ADVISORY

April 20, 2012

#RememberML@40!

 

Join us this Saturday (April 21, 2012)

@ 7a.m. – 10a.m.

U.P. Diliman – Sunken Garden

PAHRA (Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates), families of Martial Law victims and other Human Rights Defenders will gather to Inform, Inspire and to Remember Martial Law 40 years after it was first declared on September 21, 1972 by the ousted Ferdinand Marcos.

This activity is a continuation of our national campaign to Remember ML @ 40. Every 21st of the month, from March 21 until September 21 of this year,we shall strive to have our country’s younger generation remember thedark years of the  martial law period through a series ofjogging-running-walking-biking-kite flying, and sharing activities.

The overall aim of this campaign is to compel the Philippine Congress to urgently pass the Compensation Bill for Victims of Human Rights Violation almost three decades after the Marcos Dictatorship was forcefully terminated through a successful People’s Power Uprising on February 25, 1986.

please refer also to our on-line campaign

facebook : #RememberML@40

For more information and/or details, please contact:

Mr. RASTI DELIZO (PAHRA-Campaigns Staff Volunteer)

@celfone #: 099908092461/office #: 436-26-33

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We, the undersigned,

Council Members of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), representing health professionals and other relevant professionals who provide multidisciplinary rehabilitation for victims and survivors of torture throughout the world, gathered at the Annual Council Meeting in London, United Kingdom, 9 and 10 November 2011, are alarmed by the level of violence, including torture, that currently occurs in all regions of the world and specially in situations of conflict and social unrest, and that is often related to poverty, defined as a human condition characterized by sustained or chronic deprivation of resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other human rights.

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The Medical Action Group (MAG) is a health and human rights organizations which envisions a society where fundamental human rights are upheld at protected at all times in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). MAG is a member of the United Against Torture Coalition (UATC)-Philippines.

The right to reparation for victims of a wrongful act is a well-established principle of international law. This obligation also applies in respect to international human rights and humanitarian law. Rehabilitation is a very practical form of assistance for victims of torture. It is widely acknowledged, amongst those working in this field, within the human rights community, and amongst torture survivors themselves, that rehabilitation services are most effective when they combine a variety of multidisciplinary inputs: medical and psychological interventions, together with complementary psychosocial, legal and social services.

This understanding is also reflected in the Republic Act No. 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009.