This statement opposing the Asia Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition - and arms fair to be held in Adelaide, South Australia in November 2008 - has been drafted by the Stop the War Fair coalition. Groups and individuals supporting the statement are now adding their names, with a launch planned for late September.

• Please email mapw [at] mapw [dot] org [dot] au to confirm that you or your organisation will add its name.

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 Melbourne fundraising concert on Saturday 21 June 2008 — The Long Dark Night of the Arms Trade — a fund-raiser on the winter solstice weekend, for the campaign to stop APDSE (the Adelaide arms fair in November 2008.

MAPW presentation giving an overview of chemical weapons and biological weapons and some examples of their use. Also details international treaties to ban these weapons, and which countries have signed these treaties. Part of a 2006 MAPW series of presentations designed to assist members speak on these topics.

MAPW presentation on Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons. This is part of a series prepared to assist members give presentations on a range of health and peace related topics. Covers basic information, military uses, health implications, and possible action.

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.

A comprehensive MAPW paper from 2000. It defines biological weapons in detail, gives a comprehensive overview of the history of these weapons, and speaks to the threats of biological warfare and the solutions to the risks. Written by Kate Leeson MEDACT (SA)i, Adelaide, and co-author of Landmines: a global health crisis, published by IPPNWi in 1997.

Recommended reading!

Statement to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWCi) Review Conference, Geneva 2001, by Ambassador Les Luck of Australia.

Media Release

Thurs May 31, 2007.

MAPW deplores the recommendation of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade not to support a ban on cluster munitions, adding that the this flies in the face of growing international concern of the terrible humanitarian costs of these weapons.

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.