Proceedings
Symposium and Seventh Biennial Meeting London, May 18-20, 2005
International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
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This document was made possible through the generous financial support of the Royal Society, the British Academy, the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, Inc., and general operating funds provided to the Committee on Human Rights by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
For information, contact the Network secretariat:
International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies
c/o Committee on Human Rights
The National Academies
500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 Tel: 202-334-3043 Fax: Email: chr@nas.edu http://www7.nationalacademies.org/humanrights/Network_Description.html
Copyright 2006 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK of ACADEMIES AND SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES
THE NETWORK AIMS TO PUT INTO PRACTICE THE PROFESSIONAL DUTY OF SCIENTISTS AND SCHOLARS TO ASSIST THOSE COLLEAGUES WHOSE HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE BEEN—OR ARE THREATENED TO BE—INFRINGED AND TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT THE INDEPENDENCE OF ACADEMIES AND SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES WORLDWIDE.
[Approved unanimously at the May 11, 2001, fifth biennial meeting of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, held at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.]
Overview of the Network’s Mission
The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies assists colleagues (scientists and scholars) around the world who are subjected to severe repression solely for having nonviolently exercised their rights as promulgated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It also promotes human rights consciousness-raising and institutional commitment to human rights work among counterpart academies and scholarly societies worldwide and encourages and protects their independence.
The Network was created in May 1993 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. It has met biennially—in 1995 in Amsterdam at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1997 in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, in 1999 in Stockholm at The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and The Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, in 2001 in Paris at the French Academy of Sciences, in May 2003 at the Centro Stefano Franscini at the Monte Verità in Ascona, Switzerland when hosted by the Council of the Swiss Scientific Academies and, most recently, in 2005 at the Royal Society in London.
The next meeting of the Network will be held in April 2007 in Colombo and will be hosted by the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka.
Some 70 academies and scholarly societies have sent representatives to attend Network meetings. National academies and scholarly societies that have human rights
committees and actively support the work of the Network are considered to be members. The Network has an Executive Committee that administers the Network. In addition to founding members François Jacob (France), Pieter van Dijk (Netherlands), and Torsten Wiesel (USA), (sadly, founding member Max Perutz died in February 2002), the Executive Committee includes Arjuna Aluwihare (Sri Lanka), Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (France), Belita Koiller (Brazil), John Polanyi (Canada), and Edoardo Vesentini (Italy). The Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C. serves as secretariat for the Network. Carol Corillon directs the committee and is Executive Director of the Network.
Other academies that want to consider the creation of a human rights committee and full involvement in the Network are welcome to send a prominent member as an observer to a Network meeting before making a final decision. Both members and observers are encouraged to refer potentially relevant cases and human rights issues to the Network's secretariat for investigation and possible action.
Institutions that are members of the Network have full autonomy and act at their own discretion. They intervene, in the name of their institutions, on cases and issues brought to their attention by the Network secretariat through regular Action Alerts. These alerts often involve colleagues who are held without trial or who have received harsh sentences. Many are confined under deplorable conditions, often in solitary confinement. Some have been tortured, most have been mistreated, and many are in poor health.
All members of the Network are expected to actively support its goals and to keep the secretariat informed of their efforts and any subsequent results. The Network secretariat also prepares private petitions for imprisoned colleagues that are submitted to UNESCO's Committee on Conventions and Recommendations by selected academies and individuals. The Network occasionally sends observers to the trial of a colleague or colleagues.
Members of the Network believe that academies and scholarly societies worldwide are in a unique position to help promote and protect human rights, to raise the consciousness of academies and scholarly societies about human rights abuses and what they can do to help resolve them, to gain the freedom of their imprisoned colleagues, to assist others whose rights are unjustly and severely restricted, to support the independence of sister academies throughout the world, and to encourage scientific exchange and cooperation. Because academies and scholarly societies are held in high esteem and their dignity, integrity, and objectivity are widely recognized, their efforts, through a worldwide network, can be a powerful and effective tool in advancing respect for human rights.
Summary Statement The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies May 2005 Meeting, The Royal Society, London
The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies, created in 1993, met at the Royal Society in London from 18-20th May 2005, at its 7th biennial meeting, with representation from 42 scientific academies around the world.
The participants of the meeting noted with considerable concern that human rights violations are increasing, sometimes behind a façade of legal rectitude and particularly in reaction to the major terrorism events of September 2001. It was affirmed that torture, detention without due process, and other human rights violations cannot be accepted, even in light of urgent measures needed to combat and weed out terrorism.
It also was affirmed that basic rights and freedoms must be maintained, even under the most difficult of circumstances, and that the Network is appropriately and particularly concerned with the basic rights of scientists and scholars. The meeting participants were gratified to review the documentation on the many individual human rights ‘cases’ that the Network had addressed, and in some instances helped redress, during the previous two years and expressed determination to continue those efforts.
During the meeting it considered amongst other issues the rights of scientists to work and communicate with others, in different situations in the world. The importance of maintaining the rights of these colleagues to freely work and travel in the pursuit of science, and exchange ideas with others in their field, even across the most apparently intransigent political divides, was strongly endorsed by the Network. The participants expressed their opposition to boycotts and moratoria of scientific exchange between institutions and among individuals. The members of the Network also expressed concern about excessive difficulties in obtaining permission to, and visas for, travel.
The Network members were pleased to note new and positive developments regarding scientific cooperation, for example, those between Israeli and Palestinian academics and institutions which promote the exchange of ideas and may serve as an example for constructive non-violent action in other similar situations.
With Gratitude On the occasion of its seventh biennial meeting, the members of the Executive Committee of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies acknowledge with gratitude the generous support received from the British Academy, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Richard Lounsbery Foundation, Scherman Foundation, Inc., Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Open Society Fund, Royal Society (UK), National Academy of Sciences (USA), National Academy of Engineering (USA), and Institute of Medicine (USA). The Executive Committee would particularly like to thank the Royal Society, London for graciously hosting this three-day event and the British Academy for its generous organizational and administrative assistance prior to and during the event, as well as for hosting the meeting of the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization following the Network meeting. We are particularly indebted to Ruth Cooper at the Royal Society, Jane Lyddon at the British Academy, and Jennifer Baky at the U.S. National Academies for their assistance to the Network’s secretariat in overseeing many programmatic, logistical, and administrative aspects of the meeting. |
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK of ACADEMIES AND SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES
Executive Committee [See Appendix B for biographies.]
Arjuna Aluwihare
Sri Lanka
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
France
Pieter van Dijk*
Netherlands
François Jacob*
France
Belita Koiller
Brazil (as of 2006)
John Polanyi
Canada
Edoardo Vesentini
Italy
Torsten Wiesel*
USA
Executive Director
Carol Corillon
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK of ACADEMIES AND SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES
Participants and Academies Represented
Albania – Albanian Academy of Sciences
Rexhep Meidani
Australia – National Academies Forum of Australia
Derek Denton
Austria – Austrian Academy of Sciences
Hermann Hunger
Bangladesh – Bangladesh Academy of Sciences
M. Shamsher Ali
Belgium – Royal Academy of Belgium
Amand Lucas
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Muhamed Filipovic
Canada – Royal Society of Canada
Eva Kushner
Chile – Chilean Academy of Sciences
Tito Ureta
Columbia – Columbian Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences
Moises Wasserman
Costa Rica – National Academy of Sciences of Costa Rica
Marino Protti
Croatia – Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Davorin Rudolf
Czech Republic – The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Jiri Niederle
Denmark – The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Henrik Zahle
Egypt – Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of Egypt
Ahamed M. Saleh
Estonia – Estonian Academy of Sciences
Peeter Tulviste
Finland – Finnish Academies of Science and Letters
Juha Sihvola
France – French Academy of Sciences
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji*
Germany – German Academy of Natural Sciences, Leopoldina
Johannes Eckert
Ghana – The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences
Felix I. D. Konotey-Ahulu
Greece – Academy of Athens
Emmanuel Roucounas
Israel – The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Daniel Friedmann
Italy – Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
Massimmilla Baldo Ceolin
Japan – Science Council of Japan
Michiatsu Kaino
Jordan – Royal Scientific Society of Jordan
Khaled Zuhair Kahhaleh
Kenya – Kenya National Academy of Sciences
Joseph Otieno Malo
Kosovo – Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo
Rexhep Ismajli
Kyrgyzstan – National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic
Janybek Jeyenbaev
Mongolia – Mongolian Academy of Sciences
Amarsanaa Jugnee
Morocco – Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco
Driss Dahak
Nepal – Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
Dayanand Bajracharya
The Netherlands – Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Pieter van Dijk*
Norway – Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Arne Haaland
Slovenia – Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Alenka Selih
Sri Lanka – National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka
Arjuna Aluwihare*
Sweden – The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Erling Norrby
Switzerland – Council of the Swiss Scientific Academies
Harald Reuter
Taiwan – Academia Sinica
Yuan T. Lee
Uganda – Uganda National Academy of Sciences
Paul Mugambi
United Kingdom – The Royal Society
Lorna Casselton
Regional Academies
Academia Europaea
Arnold Wolfendale
African Academy of Sciences
Gideon Barak A. Okelo
Pontifical Academy
Nicola Cabibbo
Guests
Upendra Baxi,
India
Dan Bitan,
Israel
Gregg Bloche,
United States
Phillip Campbell,
United Kingdom
Michael Clegg,
United States
Ralf Dahrendorf,
United Kingdom
Hasan Dweik,
Palestine
Julia Higgins,
United Kingdom
Robert Hinde,
United Kingdom
Latsami Khamphoui,
Laos
Janet Lowenthal,
United States
Nicholas Mann,
United Kingdom
Jonathan Marks,
United Kingdom
Sari Nusseibeh,
Palestine
Onora O’Neill,
United Kingdom
Nigel Rodley,
United Kingdom
Peter Schindler,
Switzerland
John Sulston,
United Kingdom
Menahem Yaari,
Israel