Memories of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A flash in the sky
A city decimated
A city decimated
Severe disfigurement
Enter the Red Cross….Dr Marcel Junod
‘We (…) witnessed a sight totally
unlike anything we had ever seen
before. The centre of the city was a
sort of white patch, flattened and
smooth like the palm of a hand.
Nothing remained. The slightest trace
of houses seemed to have
disappeared. The white patch was
about two kilometres in diameter.
Around its edge was a red belt,
marking the area where houses had
burned, extending quite a long way
further (..) covering almost the rest of
the city.’
•ICRC delegate Dr Marcel Junod, first foreign
•Doctor into Hiroshima, 1945. ICRC photo.
Where to start on medical care?
Red Cross hospital: One of the few medical facilities standing in Hiroshima. Thousands of medical staff across the city were
killed, severely affecting relief efforts.
An early medical report
‘…Visited Hiroshima thirtieth. Conditions appalling
STOP. City wiped out eighty percent. All hospitals
destroyed or seriously damaged. Inspected two
emergency hospitals. Conditions beyond description
FULL STOP. Effect of bomb mysteriously serious
STOP. Many victims apparently recovering suddenly
suffer fatal release due to decomposition of white blood
cells…now dying in great numbers.’
Fritz Bilfinger, ICRC delegate, writing from Hiroshima,
30 August 1945
Video (3:31)
The Story of an Idea
Summary: the Red Cross Movement
• Henri Dunant
• Battle of Solferino, 1859
• Volunteers care for all sides
• The red cross emblem
• The Red Cross as a neutral relief
organization
• Geneva Conventions
International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
IHL is a set of rules which seek to limit the
effect of armed conflict on people and objects.
It is also known as the law of war.
IHL protects certain categories of people,
such as the wounded, prisoners of war and
civilians, and the medical/humanitarian workers
bringing assistance.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
IHL is a set of rules which seek to limit the
effect of armed conflict on people and objects.
It is also known as the law of war.
IHL also regulates the ways war is fought –
the strategy/tactics of battle, and the
weapons used.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
IHL is a set of rules which seek to limit the effect of
armed conflict on people and objects. It is also
known as the law of war.
Red Cross has a mandate to promote IHL, to teach
it to combatants everywhere, and to keep it up to
date / develop it further to meet new
circumstances in history.
How wars must be fought
• Distinction
• Military necessity
• Proportionality
• Unnecessary suffering
Some weapons that have been prohibited
Orangetown
International Humanitarian Law
• IHL demands that military
actions go no further than
meeting a legitimate
military aim.
• The destructive force of
nuclear weapons
is unparalleled.
International Humanitarian Law
• IHL bans weapons
which cause
unnecessary and
superfluous suffering.
• The human suffering
from nuclear weapons
is unspeakable.
International Humanitarian Law
• Weapons must not
cause damage to the
natural environment
that is widespread,
long-term and severe.
• The effects of nuclear
weapons are
catastrophic and
cannot be contained.
International Humanitarian Law
• IHL bans weapons that
cannot distinguish
between civilian sites
and military targets.
• No nuclear bomb can
do that.
•Nagasaki, before and after
Our message
Nuclear weapons cause
horrific human suffering
and are fundamentally
contrary to IHL.
Australian Red Cross can
hardly be true to its goal
‘to prevent & alleviate
human suffering…to
protect life and health’
without speaking out.
And today’s more powerful weapons
Photo courtesy US Navy. Japanese soldier walks through Hiroshima one month after bomb.
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Photo source: www.mysticpolitics.com
Potentially equal Hiroshima X 7
No adequate medical / humanitarian response
would be possible
Blast could be followed by worldwide famine
Global impetus
• Australian, Japanese, Norwegian Red
Cross and ICRC led the way in re-raising the issue
in 2011, and whole Movement is now engaged
• Global push by National Societies to their
governments
…For States to pursue with urgency
and determination negotiations to
prohibit the use of and completely
eliminate nuclear weapons through
a legally binding international agreement…
• Use ARC website to track progress of major
government meetings….Mexico, next to Austria
‘Make Nuclear Weapons the Target’
• Red Cross brings
• Weight of 13 million members
and volunteers
• Trusted non-political reputation
•The issue is humanitarian, beyond
politics
• Public education campaign in
Australia
‘Make Nuclear Weapons the Target’
Go to www.makenuclearweaponsthetarget.org.au