Committee on Human Rights Year in Review 2021 (2022) / Chapter Skim
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Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2021
Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2021
Pages 1-26
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Copyright 2022 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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The Committee advocates in support of scientists, engineers, and health professionals subjected to serious human rights abuses worldwide, including in the United States, with a focus on individuals targeted for their professional activities and/or for having exercised the universally protected right to freedom of expression, which provides a crucial foundation for scientific research and progress. CHR cases involve long-term arbitrary detention, gross violations of the right to fair trial, withdrawal of citizenship without due process, torture, and disappearance, among other serious violations of international human rights law.
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H eis ler h as a lon g hi st or y of g rou nd b rea kin g w or k at th e in te rse cti on o f h ea lth a nd h um a n rig h ts, a nd he r ex p er ti se h as al re ady p rov en to b e an in va lua bl e re so ur ce to C HR m em b er s a nd s taf f as we wo rk t o ad d res s p res sin g h eal th an d h um an ri gh ts is su es. Martin Chalfie, Chair John Hildebrand Columbia University NAS International Secretary Chris Beyrer Andrea Liu Johns Hopkins University University of Pennsylvania John Carlson Douglas Massey Yale University Princeton University Giselle Corbie-Smith Deb Niemeier University of North Carolina University of Maryland School of Medicine James M
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This year's Annual Report provides an overview of the CHR's recent efforts to assist colleagues under threat and to raise awareness of pressing issues at the intersection of science, engineering, and medicine, including in our role as Secretariat of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies -- an international consortium of honorary scientific societies with a shared interest in human rights. The CHR is grateful for the overwhelming support that we receive from the Academies' leadership, the nearly 1,500 Academy members who actively support our work as CHR Correspondents, and the more than 90 national academies participating in the IHRN.
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To enhance this effort, the CHR staff began participating in a new initiative, led by a group of international scientific bodies, to help displaced scientists preserve their professional skills and facilitate their integration into host countries. Since Kabul's fall to Taliban forces in August 2021, the CHR has worked to assist threatened Afghan scientists and scholars by connecting them with trusted legal and other support service providers.
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In connection with the Summit, the CHR hosted a virtual discussion examining the role of digital disinformation and media manipulation in entrenching societal inequalities, driving polarization, and eroding public trust. To celebrate some of the many significant contributions Nobel laureates have made in support of human rights worldwide, the CHR also produced a portrait exhibit in connection with the Summit, which can be found and explored virtually on the CHR website.
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ADVOCACY In 2021 the CHR followed 113 cases i n v o l v i n g c o l l e a g u e s i n t h e M i d d l e E a s t a n d North Africa, Europe and Eurasia, t h e A s i a - P a c i f i c r e g i o n , a n d t h e A m e r i c a s . Of t hese colleagues, 59% were scienti s t s , 1 3 % w e r e e n g i n e e r s , a n d 2 8 % w e r e h e a l t h professional s.
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M a n y U y g h u r sc ho l a r s h a v e b e en s p ec i f i ca ll y ta r g et ed an d su bj ec t ed t o r i g h t s a b u s e d u e t o su sp i ci o n s t h at t he y a r e h a r b o r i ng "p ol i ti ca lly i nc o r r ec t" i de a s. In c o n s u l t a t i o n wi t h t h e C HR , C as e We s t er n la w s tu d en ts pr ep ar ed s u b s t a n ti al l eg a l c ase b r i e f s c o n c e r n i ng t wo u n j u st l y i m pr is o n ed U y g hu r col lea gu e s f or su b mis s io n t o U N h um a n r ig h t s co mp l a i n t m ec ha n i s m s a n d rele v an t U .S .
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The appeals court reportedly noted i n i t s r u l i n g that the Ministry of Health is required to make the results of its scientific s t u d i e s p u b lic once they have been completed. T h e I s t a n b ul Regional Court of Justice Public Prosecutor subsequently appealed Dr.
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In J u l y 2 0 1 8 , Dr. Basaran received official notification that a government investigation ag a i n s t h i m had been dropped due to lack of evidence, and authorities returned his p a s s p o r t i n 2020.
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During the days before they were taken into custody, each of the medical doctors had raised safety concerns and spoken out critically about the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, including lack of adequate personal protective equipment, insufficient infection control measures and training, limited COVID-19 screening of health care workers and patients, and lack of access to necessary health care and medical supplies. During spring 2021, five of these medical doctors were released from detention although, to the best of our knowledge, the charges brought against them have not been formally withdrawn.
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In addition to the disturbing human rights aspects of their situation, we are worried that the actions against our colleagues may have a chilling effect on the broader Mexican scientific community, as well as potential negative implications for international scientific collaboration.
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research community that prosecutors are rushing to judgment about individuals based on their ancestry, in violation of the most fundamental principles of human rights. Many China Initiative cases have garnered significant international attention, including that of Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineering professor Dr.
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THE CHR at a Glance The infographics below provide a professional and regional breakdown of the CHR's current* and resolved cases.
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, that seeks to build a cohesive and coordinated effort to assist at-risk, refugee, and displaced scientists in preserving their professional skills and facilitating their integration into host countries. Led by the International Science Council, the InterAcademy Partnership, and The World Academy of Sciences, SiE brings together at-risk, displaced, and refugee scientists, as well as relevant stakeholders -- including science academies, international and governmental organizations, universities, NGOs, and diaspora groups -- "to strengthen systems that support, protect, and integrate such affected scientists." Recent efforts include creation of PhD and Postdoctoral Fellowships for at-risk scholars organized by UNESCO-TWAS and COMSTECH; a podcast series that features interviews with refugee and displaced scientists who share their scientific interests, their stories of displacement, and their hopes for the future; a webinar series on the displacement cycle; and a webpage of resources, opportunities, organizations, and programs for at-risk, displaced, and refugee scientists.
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Thank you for not letting me and my family [be] alone in this...I hope one day I would have the strength and the possibility to follow your path and pass on the legacy.
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T h e C o m mittee has connected several at-risk Afghan colleagues with o r g a n i z a t i o ns that arrange emergency funding, academic placements, pro bono l e g a l s e r v i c es, and provide other needed services. We have begun to see positive d e v e l o p m e nts in many of these cases.
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Below are highlights from CHR's awareness raising activities in 2021. Advancing Justice with Digital Evidence: The Berkeley Protocol Recent years have brought attention to the use of digital open source research methodologies for strengthening fact-finding related to world events -- ranging from violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar to attacks on the U.S.
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The event w a s h e l d a s p a r t o f the 2021 Nobel Prize Summit. This Summit brought t o g e t h e r N o b e l P r ize laureates, scientists, policy makers, business l e a d e r s , a n d y o u t h leaders to explore solutions to some of humanity's g r e a t e s t c h a l l e n ges: climate change and biodiversity l oss, increasing i n e q u a l i t y , a n d technological innovation in support of societal g o a l s .
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Lee's efforts to call attention to the human rights implications of climate change, demonstrate the profound and enduring connections between science and human rights and the important role for science in advancing human dignity worldwide. The exhibit can be explored virtually in an online gallery and exhibit booklet.
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M i c h a e l K atz, professor of pediatrics and former member of the CHR, and P h i l i p p e S a nds, legal scholar and author, held a virtual discussion to reflect on h i s t o r i c a l a ttacks against members of the scientific and academic community, i n c l u d i n g d uring World War II. W i t h j o u r n alist and professor Mia Swart serving as moderator, they examined h o w h u m a n rights standards that emerged in response to atrocities du ring W W I I c a n be applied when scie ntists, scholars, and academic freedom come u n d e r a t t a ck.
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The IHRN was founded in 1993 to alert national academies to human rights abuses involving fellow scientists and scholars and to equip academies with the tools to provide support in such cases. Today the IHRN advocates in support of professional colleagues suffering human rights abuses, promotes the free exchange of ideas and opinions among scientists and scholars, and supports the independence and autonomy of national academies and scholarly societies worldwide.
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The IHRN Executive Committee joined sc ientific and human rights bodies around the world in raising concerns about the treatment of these scholars and called upon Mexican authorities to ensure that any further investigation of this matter is in accordance with Mexico's commitments under international human rights law. G i v e n s a f e t y concerns arising from the COVID-19 global pandemic, the planned biennial m e e t i n g o f t he IHRN has been postponed until 2023.
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SUPPORT U S Y o u c a n m a ke a secure online gift on the CHR website, or by contacting the CHR via p h o n e o r e m ail. www.nationala c a d e m i e s .
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