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Scientists and Human Rights in Somalia: Report of a Delegation (1988)

Chapter: APPENDIX A: The Delegation and the Committees

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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A: The Delegation and the Committees." National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. 1988. Scientists and Human Rights in Somalia: Report of a Delegation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18664.
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Page 45
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A: The Delegation and the Committees." National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. 1988. Scientists and Human Rights in Somalia: Report of a Delegation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18664.
×
Page 46
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A: The Delegation and the Committees." National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. 1988. Scientists and Human Rights in Somalia: Report of a Delegation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18664.
×
Page 47
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A: The Delegation and the Committees." National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. 1988. Scientists and Human Rights in Somalia: Report of a Delegation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18664.
×
Page 48
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A: The Delegation and the Committees." National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. 1988. Scientists and Human Rights in Somalia: Report of a Delegation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18664.
×
Page 49
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A: The Delegation and the Committees." National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. 1988. Scientists and Human Rights in Somalia: Report of a Delegation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18664.
×
Page 50

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Appendix A The Delegation and the Committees Following are brief biographical sketches of the members of the delegation to Somalia and a description of the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences and the Com- mittee on Health and Human Rights of the Institute of Medicine. 45

47 MEMBERS OF THE DELEGATION Francisco J. Ayala, a geneticist, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and serves on its Council. He is the author of more than 300 published articles and 8 books. Dr. Ayala has been an officer of various professional societies, including president (1979-1980) of the Society for the Study of Evolution, a member of the National Advisory Council of the Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, and a member of the executive committee of the Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency. Carol Corillon, a professional associate at the National Acad- emy of Sciences, has been director of the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences for seven years and was also recently appointed director of the new Committee on Health and Human Rights of the Institute of Medicine. Ms. Corillon formerly served as staff officer for the National Research Council's Advisory Committee on the Sahel and was involved in its project on food production systems and environmental rehabilitation in Somalia. Ms. Corillon has authored or edited several Academy publications and was a delegate on the mission to Chile in 1985 of the Committee on Human Rights. M. Alfred Haynes, a physician, is a member of the Institute of Medicine and serves on both the Committee on Health and Human Rights and the Committee on Human Rights. Dr. Haynes has been an international consultant on health problems to numerous developing countries. He is past president of the American College of Preventive Medicine, an overseas fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine of Great Britain, and a member of a number of other professional organizations. Dr. Haynes was invited to Somalia in October 1979, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the revolution, where he attended a series of seminars on Somali life and culture. Lawrence R. Klein, an economist, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in economics "for the creation of econometric models and their ap- plication to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies." Dr. Klein is a member of the American Philosophical Society, has served as president of the American Economic Associ- ation, and was coordinator for President Jimmy Carter's Economic Task Force. Dr. Klein is the author of more than two dozen books

48 and dozens of published articles. He has served as a consultant to many organizations, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Industrial Develop- ment Organization, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates, Inc. THE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, self- perpetuating society of distinguished scholars in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. The Academy's charter was ap- proved by the U.S. Congress and signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Election to membership in the Academy is a considerable honor that comes to less than one-half of one percent of American scientists. The current membership of the NAS is approximately 1,520. The Academy also elects scientists who are not U.S. citizens to be foreign associates; there are approximately 250. The National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Human Rights was created in 1976 in response to increased concern by Academy members over repression of scientists in many areas of the world. The committee's membership includes voting represen- tatives from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as well as the NAS; eight members are from the NAS, two members are from the NAE, and two members and an adviser are from the IOM. The committee's inquiries and appeals are based on principles set forth in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a declaration that has been adopted by the member states of the United Nations. It proclaims certain common standards of human rights for all peoples—standards that include the right to life, liberty, and security of person; to freedom from torture and arbitrary detention; to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal; and to freedom of speech, conscience, and religion. Though the committee's concern is for all victims of abuses of human rights, the focus of its work is on scientists, engineers, and health professionals who are believed to be victims of severe repression. The committee only undertakes cases of colleagues who, to the best of its knowledge, have not used or advocated violence.

49 The committee undertakes cases of scientific colleagues any- where in the world. In the past it has worked on cases in several dozen countries, including Chile, Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, the Philippines, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and Zaire. The Institute of Medicine was chartered by the National Academy of Sciences in 1970. Its approximately 460 active mem- bers are elected on the basis of their professional achievement and serve without compensation in the conduct of studies, conferences, and other IOM inquiries into matters of national policy for health. The lOM's Committee on Health and Human Rights, which was a cosponsor of the mission to Somalia, was created in 1987. The Committee on Health and Human Rights focuses its attention on health-related human rights issues. Its particular concerns in Somalia are four imprisoned medical doctors and allegations that some of the imprisoned colleagues who are the focus of this report have been tortured. The work of the NAS Committee on Human Rights is gen- erally carried out through private inquiries from the committee and individual appeals from members of the NAS, NAE, IOM, and foreign associates who act as committee correspondents. The total number of committee correspondents is more than 1,200. Over the years, the committee's private approaches have often been effective. Occasionally, however, the committee decides that a public statement should be made in behalf of an individual or that a delegation should be sent to a country for more information and to express more directly the committee's concerns. The com- mittee has made public statements in behalf of 29 individuals in 10 countries. It has undertaken missions of inquiry to Argentina and Uruguay in 1978 and to Chile in 1985.

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