Version 2006
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Handbook of WMA Policies
World Medical Association ½ S-1996-05-2006
WMA STATEMENT
ON
WEAPONS OF WARFARE AND
THEIR RELATION TO LIFE AND HEALTH
Adopted by the 48th
WMA General Assembly, Somerset West, South Africa, October 1996
and editorially revised by the 174th
WMA Council Session, Pilanesberg, South Africa,
October 2006
PREAMBLE
1. When nations enter into warfare or into weapons development, they do not usually
consider the effects of the use of weapons on the health of individual non-combatants
and on public health in general, either in the short or in the longer term.
2. Nevertheless the medical profession is required to deal with both the immediate and
long term health effects of warfare, and in particular with the effects of different
forms of weapons.
3. The potential for scientific and medical knowledge to contribute to the development
of new weapons systems, targeted against specific individuals, specific populations or
against body systems, is considerable. This includes the development of weapons de-
signed to target anatomical or physiological systems, including vision, or which use
knowledge of human genetic similarities and differences to target weapons.
4. There are no current and commonly used criteria to measure weapons effects on health.
International Humanitarian Law states that weapons that cause injuries which would
constitute “unnecessary suffering or superfluous injury” are illegal. These terms are
not defined and require interpretation against objective criteria for the law to be
effective.
5. Physicians can aid in developing criteria for weapons that cause injury or suffering so
extreme as to invoke the terms of International Humanitarian Law.
6. Such criteria could aid lawyers in the use of International Humanitarian Law, allow
assessment of the legality of new weapons currently in development against an
agreed, objective system of assessment of their medical effects, and identify breaches
of the Law once it is developed.
7. Physician involvement in the delineation of such objective criteria is essential if it is
to become part of the legal process. However, it should be recognised that physicians
are opposed to any use of weapons against human beings.
S-1996-05-2006½ Taipei
Weapons of Warfare
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The WMA believes that the development, manufacture and sale of weapons for use
against human beings are abhorrent. To support the prevention and reduction of wea-
pons injuries the WMA:
a. Supports international efforts to define objective criteria to measure the effects of
current and future weapons, which could be used to stop the development, manu-
facture, sale and use of those weapons;
b. Calls on National Medical Associations to urge national governments to co-
operate with the collection of such data as are necessary for establishing objective
criteria;
c. Calls on National Medical Associations to support and encourage research into
the global public health effects of weapons use, and to publicise the results of that
research both nationally and internationally to ensure that both the public and
governments are aware of the long term health consequences of weapons use on
non-combatant individuals and populations.