National Academies Press: OpenBook

Science and Human Rights (1988)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1988. Science and Human Rights. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9733.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Committee on Human Rights Science and Human Rights Carol Corillon, Editor NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1988

NOTICE: This volume has been reviewed by a group other than the participants. The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self- perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the author- ity of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Frank Press is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The Committee on Human Rights is a committee of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its admin- istration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the Na- tional Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering prograrrls aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of ap- propriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibil- ity given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Samuel O. Thier is president of the Institute of Medicine. The production and publication of this report was made possi- ble by a grant from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and funds provided by the National Academy of Sciences. Available from: Committee on Human Rights National Academy of Sciences 2 101 Constitution Avenue N. W. Washington, D.C. 20418

Committee on Human Righis 198~87 ELIOT STELLAR (Chair), Institute of Neurological Sciences, University of Pennsylvania GERARD DEBREU, Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley DANIEL C. DRUCKER, Engineering Sciences Department, University of Florida GERTRUDE S. GOLDHABER, Department of Physics, Brookhaven National I,aboratory, Upton, New York M. ALFRED HAYNES, Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School, Los Angeles MARY ELLEN ~JONES, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ROBERT S. LAWRENCE, Division of Primary Care, Harvard Medical School FRANCIS LOW, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology DANIEL NATHANS, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University DONALD S. ORNSTEIN, Department of Mathematics, Stanford University PETER H. RAVEN, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis WILLIAM SLIGHTER, AT&T Bell Laboratories (retired), Murray Hill, New Jersey GILBERT F. WHITE, Institute of Behavorial Science, University of Colorado ADAM YARMOLINSKY, Provost, University of Maryland Baltimore County CAROL CORILLON, Director · - ~ 111 1,

Contents FOREWORD, Frank Press.. PREFACE, Eliot Stenar............................................ OVERVIEW, Carol Carillon WELCOMING REMARKS, William Gordon INTRODUCTION, Eliot Stellar 18 ·- ,V11 ,, .16 PART 1: TORTURE, PSYCHIATRIC ABUSE, AND THE ETHICS OF MEDICINE INTRODUCTION, Gerard Debreu 21 THE WORK OF THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF CHILE, Juan Luis Gonzalez 23 COMMENTS, Helen Ranney COMMENTS, Albert SoInit COMMENTS, Alfred Haynes QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ..26 .28 .33 34

PART 2: HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMAN NEEDS, AND SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM INTRODUCTION, Gilbert White APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA, Ismail Mohamed COMMENTS, Robert Kates 46 COMMENTS, Walter Rosenblith COMMENTS, Lipman Bers QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 39 40 PART 3: HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN SURVIVAL INTRODUCTION, Francis Low ....... THE SOVIET UNION, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND NATIONAL SECURITY, yl]ri C]rlov COMMENTS, Victor Weisskopf COMMENTS, Paul Doty COMMENTS, Lipman Bers . QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 52 .54 ..55 . .61 62 . .67 .70 71 .73 CLOSING REMARKS, Eliot Stellar 79 APPENDIX A: AFFILIATIONS OF PARTICIPANTS APPENDIX B: MANDATES, COMMITTEE ON 81 HUMAN RIGHTS AND COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS 84 APPENDIX C: ORGANIZATION OF A HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE V1

Foreword Science and human rights are inextricably linked in many ways. In 1913 former academy member Albert Einstein said in an address to the California Institute of Technology: It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings. Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. The creation of a Committee on Human Rights by the National Academy of Sciences in 1976 was but the formalization of a Tong- standing concern of the academy about humanitarian issues. For many years, academy officers have taken private action through fellow scientists, sister academies, and research councils throughout the world in behalf of threatened colleagues. In the l950s, the academy helped find positions in the United States for Hungarian scientists who had fled their country. In 1966, it provided assistance to Argentine students whose education was interrupted by the closing of the University of Buenos Aires by finding institutions in the United States where they could study. It is noteworthy that a large number of the academy's roughly 1,500 members are foreign born; many fled their countries of birth because of abuses inflicted upon them and their families by repres- sive governments. Many of those scientists have gone on to make outstanding contributions to the science and welfare of their nation of adoption, the United States of America. ·- V11

In 1976, the council of the academy decided to institutionalize its human rights efforts by establishing the Committee on Human Rights. This publication is the cuIrrunation of more than 10 years of commitment to human rights by the committee. These efforts have attracted the involvement and dedication of an increasing number of members of the National Academy of Engi- neering (NAE), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and this academy. These members are not human rights experts; they simply care about the plight of their colleagues and are willing to sneak off. firmly against repression, again and again. ~,¢ _ _ The academy members who have served on the committee over the years have done so with dedication, determination, and a great sense of purpose and humanity. We owe them our respect and our deep appreciation for carrying out this important and often frustrat- ing work. In particular, I would like to mention the two past chairs of the committee, Robert Kates and Lipman Bers, and the current chair, Eliot Stellar. It is through their efforts that the committee has endured and matured. All three of these scientists collaborated in making the symposium a reality and a major success. All three were also involved in the academywide effort to gain the release from prison of Juan Luis Gonzalez of Chile, Ismail Mohamed of South Africa, and Yuri OrIov of the Soviet Union, the main speakers at the symposium. ~ would also like to express the deep appreciation of the members of the National Academy of Sciences to the foundations that have seen fit to supplement the academy's financial contributions to the work of the Committee on Human Rights. Their grants have made possible the sustained work of the committee. Thus, ~ thank the Ford Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, the New-Land Foundation, the J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, and the Stichting European Human Rights Foundation. More than 700 people attended the symposium. Most of them were academy members. It was the main event of the first day of the academy's 124th annual meeting a very real indication of the continuing importance given and seriousness attached to human rights issues by the officers and members of the academy. In fact, over the years, our human rights committee has come to symbolize the very conscience of the academy. It is a reflection of our hope to contribute, even in a small way, to the ongoing struggle against · - ~ van

violations of human rights around the world a struggle for which many of our foreign colleagues have sacrificed their livelihoods and for which some have paid with their lives. The symposium was an inspiring event. Many of those who at- tended told me later that it was one of the most emotionally moving and thought-provoking events they had ever attended. It is our hope, and my personal belief, that the issues examined in this publication will be of value not only as a record of the symposium for those who attended, but also for those concerned individuals, students, scien- tLStS, human rights activists, and members of government everywhere who care about those whose human rights are being violated. Frank Press, President National Academy of Sciences LX

Preface The symposium on which this publication is based took place on April 27, 1987, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. The publication of this book allows us, the members of the Na- tional Academy of Sciences, to honor and to celebrate the freedom of three outstanding men who are scientists and human rights activists and have experienced repression first hand. It also marks, in a formal and official manner, the importance, endurance, and success of the work of our Committee on Human Rights. The Committee on Human Rights was created by the National Academy of Sciences in 1976 in response to increased concern by academy members about repression, in many areas of the world, of scientific colleagues, like those honored at our symposium. Sum sequently, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) asked to participate in the committee's work. Two representatives from the NAE and two from the TOM are included on the 13-member committee. The committee works in behalf of scientific colleagues, anywhere in the world, who are believed to be suffering severe repression for the nonviolent exercise of their human rights. These colleagues may be in detention, believed to be in danger of torture, held without charges or access to a lawyer, or imprisoned; they may have "disappeared" or been banished to internal exile. Because we fee] a special sense of responsibility toward our col- leagues and because of lirn~ted staff and funds, the committee works X1

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Why does the National Academy of Sciences have a Committee on Human Rights? How does the committee define human rights and which rights are fundamental? Does a focus on human rights undermine efforts toward international scientific cooperation , development, political stability, or nuclear disarmament? Why does the committee work only in behalf of scientists and how do scientists become victims of human rights violations? How and why do some health professionals collude with torturers? These questions are typical of those asked frequently of the members and staff of the academy's Committee on Human Rights. They are important questions that this document helps to answer.

Science and Human Rights is the summary of the presentation and discussion of a Symposium convened by the National Academy of Sciences to discuss these issues. Also included in this report are three major papers written by former prisoners from Chile, South Africa, and the Soviet Union.

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