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Dr Ronald McCoy, one of the most influential and inspirational leaders in global efforts to abolish nuclear weapons has passed away in Malaysia. He was 96.
Dr McCoy was born in Seremban in 1930, studied medicine in Singapore and had a long career as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, retiring in 1996.
He became active in the global movement to eliminate nuclear weapons in the 1980s and established Malaysian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in 1987. For eight years he was co-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) which had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for its work raising awareness of the medical effects of nuclear warfare.
Dr Ronald McCoy speaking to ICAN campaigners in Geneva in 2016
With the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons in mind and frustrated at the deadlock in the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, in the mid 2000s Dr McCoy proposed that doctors and other activists should start an international campaign to get rid of nuclear weapons modelled on the Land Mine Treaty, The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
He suggested the new organisation should be called the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons or ICAN for short. ICAN was founded in 2007 and has grown into a movement with more than 730 partners in 113 countries.
ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to draw attention to "the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons” and our “ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons”.
Susi Snyder, ICAN’s Director of Programmes, paid tribute to Dr McCoy: “We are deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Dr. Ron McCoy. Dr. McCoy was an inspirational leader in efforts to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide. His gentle perseverance, and dedication to creating a world that was safe for everyone, no matter where they lived was a generous gift to us all. We send our deepest condolences to his family and his community and will continue our efforts to end the threat of nuclear weapons and abolish them forever.”