IPPNW World Conference Dr. Yookura

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IPPNW World Congress
Sept 4-6, 2017、York, U.K
Yoshitake Yokokura, M.D.
Representative President JPPNW
President, Japan Medical Association
President-elect, World Medical Association
I am Dr. Yokokura, the Representative President of the JPPNW since this May, representing the only
nation in the world that has suffered from atomic bombs.
I am also serving the President-elect of the World Medical Association (WMA) as well as the
President of the Japan Medical Association (JMA).
I would like to make a few remarks at the closing of the IPPNW World Congress.
On September 3rd, we observed a nuclear test conducted while the world demands the elimination of
nuclear weapons and abolition of nuclear tests.
The WMA has been also strongly condemning the use of nuclear weapons and demanding the
abolition of nuclear tests for years.
The WMA, established in 1947, is a non-governmental organization of 112 national medical
associations, representing physicians from all over the world for 70 years.
The WMA Declarations of Geneva, of Helsinki and of Tokyo make clear the duties and
responsibilities of the medical profession to preserve and safeguard the health of the patient and to
consecrate itself to the service of humanity.
Therefore, the WMA considers that it has a duty to work for the elimination of these weapons.
At its General Assembly Moscow in 2015, the WMA adopted a statement that advocates the effort to
eliminate nuclear weapons.
In this statement, it condemns the development, testing, production and use of nuclear weapons, and
requests that all national medical associations support this statement and urge their respective
governments to work towards the elimination of these dreadful weapons.
Now, let me speak about Japan. Every year in Japan, we hold two peace memorial ceremonies – one
in Hiroshima City on August 6th, another one in Nagasaki City on August 9th – to remember the
victims of the atomic bomb locations and to pray for peace.
These ceremonies are also meant to appeal continuously to the world not to repeat such abominable
history that instantly destroyed numerous precious lives and rich nature, and to pray for building a
peaceful world in the future.
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At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony of this year, children plead against war.
Our future generations should not need to experience war, but they need to learn the facts of war,
correctly.
In their simple but honest words that reach every corner of the world, children plead persistently that
we should all learn the value of life of each individual and learn to value each other.
We physicians renew our awareness of the extent of the damage by a nuclear weapon when we directly
face the victims of the atomic bombing in their 80’s and over who still suffer health damage even
after 70 some years.
The children of Hiroshima say, “Had it not been for the people who desperately survived during the
time of hardship, had they given up and lost their determination and hope for reconstruction back
then, Hiroshima we have today would not exist.”
The survivor of the atomic bombing says, “This history, the atomic bombing, is one of the wrong
doing that mankind had made, and we must overcome it, and reach out for our future. However, that
fact it happened, will remain.”
The family of the victims says, “The suffering and sorrow of the atomic bomb victims still continue
even now, and the world should not forget that.”
Even today, some survivors continue to work actively in overseas to tell this fact to the world.
In October this year, I will be inaugurated as the 68th
WMA President at its General Assembly in
Chicago.
Especially as the President of the WMA starting from this fall, I shall continue to advocate the
elimination of nuclear weapons strongly and extensively, at every opportunity.
In closing, I wish to convey these messages yet again to all the people in the IPPNW who have been
involved in the effort to eliminate nuclear weapons.
I hope this World Congress will bring a new step forward for the future activities of the organization.
Thank you very much.