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.

"Elevated chromosome translocation frequencies in New Zealand nuclear test veterans" is an important study by Associate Professor Al Rowland and Massey University researchers. It documents the health effects for NZ sailors who witnessed Britain's Grapple nuclear tests at Christmas Island in the 1950s. The study documents evidence of long term genetic damage, of a type linked to the presence of a wide range of illnesses and with the potential to result in intergenerational effects It has been published in the leading international peer-reviewed scientific journal "International Cytogenetics and Genome Research". 

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.

Draft policy for professional organisations on highly enriched uranium (HEUi).

Tim Wright attended the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee Meeting in Geneva in May 2008 on behalf of ICANi. MAPW Immediate Past President Tilman Ruff, with Yarra Councillor Jenny Farrar, were NGOi representatives on the official Australian delegation. This ICAN report describes both the official meeting, including Australia's role; and the unofficial campaign meetings and workshops of anti-nuclear NGOs which accompanied it. 

A one-page, regularly updated flyer summarising MAPW's campaigns and activities over the last year. Also available double-sided with a membership form on the back.

Lax nuclear safeguards pose a key threat for Australia and the world. This article published in the Adelaide Advertiser, 22 April 2008, was written by MAPW Vice-President Dr Bill Williams, with Professor Jim Falk. 

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).

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.

In November 2006 the Australian Blackhawk helicopter crash off Kadavu (Fiji) drew attention to the fact that our SAS were on the Kanimbla in Fiji waters prior to the 2006 coup. A new report - by the Fiji Human Rights Commission which is an active supporter of the current Fiji interim administration - argues that Australia's intervention was illegal. It implies that Australia's actions (sending warships, and providing military support for the Fiji police, headed at the time by an Australian Federal Police officer) were provocative.
What was the effect of Australia's intervention: did it undermine attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Fiji's military forces and the government?

This 2004 MAPW study concluded that the new nuclear reactor then planned (and since built) at Lucas Heights in Sydney, was not needed for medical purposes. It describes the argument that the reactor was needed for nuclear medicine, as a "myth", arguing that isotopes can be imported, produced in some cases without a reactor, or that other diagnostic procedures can be used.

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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!

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.

The official MAPW constitution (revised 2000). MAPW is incorporated in Victoria, under the Associations Act.