National Academies Press: OpenBook

Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017 (2018)

Chapter: Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017

Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
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Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
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Page 2
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 3
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 4
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 5
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 6
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 7
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 8
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 9
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 10
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Committee on Human Rights: Year in Review 2017. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26293.
×
Page 15

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C O M M I T T E E O N H U M A N R I G H T S

It has been a busy, productive year for the Committee on Human Rights (CHR) as we have worked to expand our advocacy in support of colleagues under threat and promote dialogue on pressing human rights issues related to science, technology, and medicine. I am pleased to report that, over the course of the past year, 25 colleagues on whose cases the CHR has worked have been released from detention and/or are no longer facing criminal charges. Dr. Merera Gudina is an example. Dr. Merera is an Ethiopian political scientist who was arrested in November 2016 and subsequently charged with national security offenses after testifying before the European Parliament about human rights in the country. In January of 2018, after over a year in prison, all charges against Dr. Merera were dropped, and he was released. The positive developments in Dr. Merera’s case, and the other 24 mentioned cases, have come in the wake of international pressure, including appeals from the CHR and many Academy members. Although four of the individuals concerned were released only after serving their full prison sentences, they saw steady improvement in their conditions of confinement following international expressions of concern. Unfortunately, we continue to receive news of scientists, engineers, and health professionals suffering human rights abuses for practicing their professions or otherwise exercising internationally protected rights. We learn about many such situations from members of the Academies and the wider academic community, and we frequently consult with Academy members concerning cases related to their fields. Currently, the CHR is following 74 cases involving serious violations of colleagues’ human rights, and taking responsive actions that include, as appropriate, letters of appeal, meetings with government (including embassy) officials, and use of international and regional human rights complaint mechanisms. This year, we began submitting case information to various African human rights mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders of the African Commission on Human & Peoples' Rights, in cases concerning two imprisoned engineers. Both of these individuals have since been freed. Along with this ongoing advocacy, the CHR hosted its first public symposium on December 7-8, 2017—Protecting the Rights of Individuals Fleeing Conflict: The Role of Scientists, Engineers, and Health Professionals. This inspiring event brought together scholars, including refugee scholars; representatives from UN agencies, the World Bank, and other international bodies; human rights organizations; and research and policy institutions. Discussion focused on efforts to address systematic challenges faced by displaced persons and to assist refugee scholars and scientists seeking to reestablish their careers in exile. We hope that this will be the first of many CHR symposia examining pressing human rights issues related to science, engineering, and medicine. We encourage you to view the highlights video and webcast of the symposium on the Committee on Human Rights website. 1

The year ahead promises to be exciting. In addition to our continued advocacy efforts, including embassy visits, we are preparing a human rights guidebook for at-risk colleagues and their families with the assistance of law students from Columbia University, developing online resource materials on human rights for academics, and planning observer missions to countries with significant human rights-related trials. As the Secretariat of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (H.R. Network), and with the support of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, the CHR is producing a resource guide on human rights for national academies worldwide that should be finished within the next few months. We hope to distribute this guide at the 13th biennial meeting of the H.R. Network, which we are organizing with the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. The theme of the meeting, to be held in Seoul from October 25-27, 2018, is Science and the Right to Development. If you have not already elected to become a “CHR Correspondent,” I strongly urge you to do so. Correspondents receive periodic e-mail updates from the CHR about urgent cases and issues and information about opportunities to participate in the CHR’s activities. I also urge Correspondents to help in appealing for colleagues in need by using the online system that CHR has created for this purpose (a link to the online system is included in all CHR e-mail alerts on cases). With this online system, it takes only a few minutes to have customized letters of appeal sent to you for mailing and less than one minute to add your name to a joint appeal letter signed by members of the CHR and other concerned members of the National Academies. From our contact with colleagues who have been released from prison, and their families, we know how meaningful they find the support provided by Academy members. Finally, we welcome your questions and your suggestions about how the CHR can be an even more effective voice for human rights within the Academies. With best wishes, Dr. Martin Chalfie (NAS/NAM) CHR Chair Those who spoke up for me during my ordeal, they are my friends…I felt I am worthy of living to so many people that I don’t know. Political scientist released in December 2017 after an enforced disappearance 2

The Committee on Human Rights (CHR), created by NAS members in 1976, is a standing membership committee of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and National Academy of Medicine (NAM). The CHR is composed of 14 members drawn from the membership of the three Academies and appointed by the Academies’ presidents, including the foreign secretaries of the NAS, NAE, and NAM who serve as ex officio members. 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. Alongside the CHR’s advocacy, the committee provides assistance to professional colleagues under threat by linking them to the wider international scientific community and to organizations that provide pro bono legal support and other services. CHR members, and other members of the Academies, play a distinctive and influential advocacy role as globally respected individuals expressing solidarity with colleagues under threat. More than 1,500 members of the three Academies are CHR Correspondents, who receive regular information on the committee’s activities—including periodic “Action Alerts” concerning urgent human rights cases. Correspondents are encouraged to write appeals to relevant government officials concerning such cases. The CHR also raises awareness concerning the links between science, technology, health, and human rights, including through briefings for Academy members. The CHR serves as the Secretariat of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (H.R. Network), which brings together more than 80 academies and scholarly societies to address shared science and human rights concerns. 3

February 2017 – Individuals protest the detention of a Sudanese engineer at the Embassy of Sudan in Ireland. [Photo: Erin Kilbride / Front Line Defenders] February 2018 – Iranian Baha'i leader and engineer Saeid Rezaie reunites with his wife after nearly 10 years in prison. 5 4

25 colleagues Mudawi Ibrahim Merera Gudina Adam Click on the images below for more information on selected cases. No photo available Vahid Tizfahm Abdulmonem Fariba Abdumawla Kamalabadi Mubashar Hasan İştar Gözaydın Ethiopian scientific colleagues (pictured from left to right with two associates) Atnaf Berahane Natnael Feleke Befeqadu Hailu Saeid Rezaie Mahvash Sabet Abel Wabella 5

(05/26/17) (05/23/17) (05/23/17) (03/10/17) (03/01/17) (03/01/17) (12/21/16) 6

The CHR is currently working on 74 cases spanning the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Eurasia, Asia, the Americas, and sub-Saharan Africa. Of its current cases, 49% are scientists, 31% are health professionals, and 20% are engineers. 7

Click on the images below *as of March 2018 Family member of physicist and former prisoner of conscience 8

CHR Meeting & Events 2017 NAS Annual Meeting - CHR Breakfast Briefing On May 1, 2017, during the NAS Annual Meeting, the CHR held a breakfast briefing, led by CHR Chair Martin Chalfie, to highlight issues surrounding digital security and human rights. Guest speaker John Scott-Railton of The Citizen Lab (Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto) spoke to NAS members about the use of digital surveillance and technologies to target human rights activists and other members of civil society worldwide. For the past decade, The Citizen Lab has tracked abuse of the Internet to threaten these actors through surveillance and digital intrusions. Governments are typical perpetrators, enabled by weak laws and supplied by the growing global market for digital surveillance, intrusion, and filtering technologies. Citizen Lab researchers engage directly with the victims of these operations and, in a recent high-profile case, helped deter a cyber-attack against an Emirati scientific colleague whose case the CHR is following. Scott-Railton provided an overview of the state of digital threats against civil society drawn from The Citizen Lab's peer-reviewed and mixed-methods research. Collaborating on Human Rights Investigations: Fire Research and Forensic Science At the CHR’s May 2017 semiannual meeting, Professor José Torero—the John L. Bryan Chair in Fire Protection Engineering and Director of the Center for Disaster Resilience at the University of Maryland—spoke to members about his efforts to help protect human rights through the investigation of several high-profile fires. He emphasized the need for human rights organizations and institutions to better understand the science behind human rights investigations and the added value scientists can provide through their technical analyses. Dr. Torero also discussed the importance of establishing verifiable scientific facts in criminal investigations and elaborated on how engineering and a range of scientific disciplines are critical components of forensic fire investigations. 9

Documentary Screening and Discussion Hosted by the National Academy of Medicine On December 18, 2017, Senior CHR Program Officer Patricia Evers participated in a panel discussion - hosted by the NAM - concerning The New Barbarianism, an original documentary from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The film explores the growing trend of violence against health and humanitarian workers in global conflict zones, with a focus on the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars, and discusses current efforts to reduce these attacks. The panel discussion highlighted the historic lack of attention this issue has received, but also the recent increase in actions taken to address attacks on health professionals. When asked what steps we can take now to help solve this crisis, panelists pointed to the need for implementation of laws designed to reduce civilian casualties and greater efforts to [from left to right] J. Stephen Morrison (CSIS Global Health Policy Center, and Executive Producer/Director of The New support individual victims of these abuses and their Barbarianism), Patricia Evers, Leonard Rubenstein (Johns families. Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/ Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition), Margaret Hamburg (NAM Foreign Secretary), Alexandra Boivin (International Committee of the Red For more information about the event and to link to the Cross), and Victor J. Dzau (NAM President) full documentary, click here. 2017 NAM Annual Meeting - CHR Briefing The CHR hosted a luncheon briefing for NAM members at the 2017 NAM Annual Meeting. Dr. Vincent Iacopino, Senior Medical Advisor for Physicians for Human Rights, discussed his involvement in investigating the health consequences of human rights abuses worldwide. Dr. Iacopino also spoke about his work as the principal organizer of an international effort to develop UN guidelines on effective documentation of torture and ill- treatment (the Istanbul Protocol). Attendees were provided with an update on the previous day’s meeting of the NAM Interest Group on Human Rights, Professional Ethics, and the Values of Medicine, which focused on the role of health care professionals in providing care to undocumented immigrants. I send you my greetings and eternal gratitude for the extraordinary work that you, and the committee that you preside over with such dignity, undertook during my imprisonment...You engaged in a titanic struggle, repeatedly submitting requests for my definitive release…For all of those humanitarian actions, I send, from the depths of my heart, my warmest thanks to all of the people who, together with you, did everything possible (and impossible) so that my release could become a reality. Engineer released from prison after serving 8 years of a 20-year sentence for his peaceful expression of dissent 10

2017 CHR Public Symposium On December 7-8, 2017, the CHR gathered leading scholars and practitioners for a symposium on Protecting the Rights of Individuals Fleeing Conflict: The Role of Scientists, Engineers, and Health Professionals. The CHR intends for this event to be the first of a series of symposia on important topics involving science, engineering, health, and human rights. The 2017 symposium, which was also webcast live, brought together scholars, including academics who themselves have fled their countries; representatives from UN agencies, the World Bank, and other international bodies; human rights organizations; and research and policy institutions, for a discussion on how scientists, health professionals, and engineers can help to address the challenges faced by refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. Symposium participants examined scientific, technological, and medical developments currently being used to provide support for refugees and other displaced persons, including the benefits and potential drawbacks of such developments. Participants also discussed the ongoing, urgent needs of individuals who have fled their homes, as well as efforts to provide targeted assistance for scholar refugees seeking to reestablish their careers in exile. For more information about the event, please click here. The symposium also featured a screening of the documentary film, Science in Exile. Produced by the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and directed by Italian filmmaker Nicole Leghissa, the film follows the struggles of displaced scientists forced to flee Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, as they seek safety and the opportunity to continue making valuable scientific contributions in their adopted homes. For more information and to view the trailer, please click here. 11

67 resolved successfully 8 have seen positive developments 12

(H.R. Network) Programs and other information concerning previous meetings of the H.R. Network can be found here. 13

Your support allows the Committee to enhance its role as the voice of human rights for the three Academies. Contact CHR: Phone: 202 334 3043 Fax: 202 334 2225 Email: chr@nas.edu https://www8.nationalacademi es.org/AcademyGiving/, [chr@nas.edu]

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The annual report of the Committee on Human Rights (CHR) provides an overview of the CHR's activities in 2017, including information on its advocacy, events, and awareness-raising projects.

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